For Bazaar’s 15th Anniversary Issue, Dance-Turned-Actress Sofia Boutella Discusses Learning English with Madonna to Acting Alongside Jodie Foster

Harper’s Bazaar (Malaysia) – After a long day of work, Sofia Boutella does what many of us do—exchange the day’s ensemble for a trusty pair of sweats. Hers just happen to be a personal gift from Madonna. “She gave me these on my first tour with her,” Boutella, a former professional dancer, explains of the black tracksuit she slips into after wrapping her photo shoot with BAZAAR. “They’re still my favourite comfy clothes,” she shares, completing the off-duty look with a pair of classic Doc Martens. What else would you expect from a terpsichorean, who had just spent the entire day leaping and pirouetting in the heat around downtown Los Angeles?

Boutella makes the cover of BAZAAR Malaysia’s 15th Anniversary Issue, which, coincidentally, is exactly how long it’s been since Her Madgesty gifted her the tracksuit. Although she was born in Algeria and raised in France, it was in Los Angeles where Boutella was thrusted into rehearsal upon booking her first gig with Madonna. She was thrilled, of course, but she knew she was standing at the foot of an enormous learning curve. There was choreography to master, the physical demands of a worldwide tour to prepare her body for, and—no big deal—she needed to learn English. “I struggled to understand what everybody was saying, but I had to learn very fast,” she recalls, speaking now in near-perfect English glazed with a French accent. “It was incredible to be thrown into that world. Watching Madonna work, I learned so much.” And learn she did; applying that same energy and passion on set as she would on stage over the years. Case in point: her bold, electrifying dance moves, which seemed to juxtapose against Louis Vuitton’s 18th-century inspired Spring/Summer ’18 collection. Even in a brocade tailcoat (the same one French first lady Brigitte Macron was spotted in, just a few days before our shoot), she keeps it on point—literally, on her toes, dancing through the streets of Vernon.

In a world of Insta-fame, Boutella’s career path is a timely reminder of the pay-offs that come with persistence, staying true to oneself, and trusting time. Her first on-screen appearance came in 2002, when she played—surprise!—a dancer in the French movie Le Défi. She loved the experience and enrolled in acting classes, taking on a few more projects in Paris. In the beginning, “it wasn’t that much,” she says. “In the span of four years, [I only had] maybe three or four projects.” She was pursuing dance at the same time, which began to demand more and more of her time. “I decided to devote myself to dance, focus on that, and not have my butt in two chairs,” she says of the conscious decision to shelve her acting ambitions. “The dancing that was required of me at the time was really intense because it required a ton of travel,” she adds. “I was always a suitcase away from any place.”

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