Interview with Diem Camille

Hello, Diem! We’re very excited to greet you for our interview. How is your spring going?

— Hello Kate, so nice to e-meet you! It’s going very well, thank you so much. My spring is more like summer for the first time, since I’m now working in Thailand and the heatwave did not come to play honey. Although, the weather might actually give you an involuntary tiny six pack from laughing so hard. Especially, because I’m so lucky to be surrounded by the best and funniest people here, making my tropical spring into a dream come true.

Tell us, please, at what point in your life did you decide to become an actress? What inspired you to take this step?

— My bonus grandparents actually played a huge part in it, without knowing. Growing up in Denmark, we would watch all these classic Danish movies every weekend. And my favorite was “Olsen Banden” (Olsen Gang), the most iconic Danish comedy film series ever, about these robbers who fail at every mission. And the audience knows that they will fail, because the films start with the lead, Egon, walking out of prison, and end with him going to prison. But you sit there and anticipate how it will go wrong. It’s hilarious! I would get sucked into the screen every single time, imagine myself playing the parts, imitating and believing. At some point when I was 10, I had two epiphanies. After watching a lot of American films incl. many many westerns, I knew I wanted to become an actress, but the only people on screen who were non-white, were either evil or died. And being so new and innocent to live-action film, I thought people actually died for real on screen. I know… So, I didn’t want to be an actress anymore. When I told my Danish bonus mom, she set me straight and told me about movie magic, and I went “yaaay, then I can be an actress”. The other epiphany hit me when I watched Danish TV. Since absolutely no one looked like me, I told myself, “well, no one looks like me, which must mean that there’s room for me. They just don’t know it yet”. And my mindset ever since has been just that. What inspired me mostly to take that step was a 3-year business degree. That truly made me think “what the F am I doing?”, the whole time throughout. I was afraid that I had just missed 3 years of acting career time, but that’s just not how it works. I now have a degree in English and organizational communication, I’m a translator, I got a friend for life, and I probably matured to a decent extent for this industry that I embarked on the day after my graduation. I am where I am today, because of all the twists, turns and sidetracks that I did.

How did you start your acting journey?

— Well, even though I knew I wanted to become an actress, I had to finish school first. So, in the meantime I would set up these tiny plays and skits with my siblings in front of our Danish family. I didn’t force them though, they actually liked it. Don’t worry. Around the 10th grade and high school, I started writing in my free time, after the most wonderful teacher, Kurt, told me that I had potential, and also pushed me to join a musical down at the theater in Silkeborg. He was married to an artist, and applauded any creative dream that I had. I thank him for that. I did the musical and enjoyed it a lot, and also realized that I thrive more in naturalistic settings. After high school, my angel of a mom believed in my dream of becoming an actress and writer, but she pushed me into going to business school first, and since I wanted something to lean back on as well, I moved to Copenhagen and got my degree. But especially that last year was soul-crushing. I felt like I was wasting my life, blowing out my flame, giving up. But I stuck it out, got my degree, and ran out of there. The next day I signed up for countless gigs as an extra on TV, film and commercials, and applied for welfare! Thank you Denmark. Then I was an extra for 2 years, and a waitress on the side, as well as a road blocker on film sets. I was very vocal about my dream, since I believe that if you tell yourself every morning that you’re an actress, and you carry yourself as such and take action towards it, you will become it. Don’t just sit on your bed and manifest in thin air. One day the extras coordinators needed this 2-line part, and I was like “that’s me!” and the happy coordinator Dorte Romer who had followed my whole path with such support, took care of me that day. That was “Warrior” directed by the amazing Christoffer Boe. After that I just continued to seek out opportunities, write my own little scenes and short films and film them with my friends, mostly with my octopus of a friend Clara Kokseby, who can make whole films by herself. Such a star. I did this cheeky thing of sending scenes and archs to directors to give them ideas if they wanted to use me again, as more than an extra, which sounds crazy, but actually worked for the comedy series “29”. I also starred in this Zentropa/Copenhagen Filmworkshop short film, portraying a young black Afro Danish woman, written and directed by a trailblazing Afro Dane, Stine Likodelle. Because I got all my Danish jobs myself, when I finally got an English agent 3 years ago, the impeccable Amy O'Neill, she was like “how the hell did you go from being an extra to having a role on a hit crime show like “The Sommerdahl Murders”?” I was a bit stunned myself, but to me, I had just done what needed to be done when the phone doesn’t ring.

You created, wrote and starred in the TV series «Bad Bitch», a «Robert» nominated miniseries (Danish BAFTA’s). What inspired you to write it?

— All the things I’ve always needed. I’ve always needed to be seen before one looks at my skin, listened to before one hears my accent, moved without a touch, and understood… If you don’t see someone who looks like you on the screen, can you really feel understood? You can. But to see someone like yourself on a screen or magazine cover or billboard or talk-show, is of great great value, because it validates one’s existence and proves what is possible for someone. When that doesn’t happen, it’s a deafening kind of silencing, it’s maintaining the status quo even though the system needs and can benefit greatly from a reboot. If I can understand a white man in “Another Round” who’s trying to drown his crisis in a booze dare, why is it so hard for some people to believe that a white man could understand a black leading woman on screen, who’s trying to drown her crisis? I don’t see the logic in that. I only see the lock on the gate. I wanted to open the gate. So, after trying for almost two years to pitch a TV series to broadcasters and production labels, I switched it up. I heard
about this “minority workshop” for DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) that wanted this group to help them be a better public service, and pitch ideas to them, so that some of us could become
consultants on a pilot that DR would write. Instead of pitching the TV series that I had worked on, I came up with this story about Nikki, a young woman who is living her best single life with her friends
Pascal(Mark Ivan Serunjogi) and Gaia (Maji Claire), but Nikki struggles to be African enough around her family vs. her liberating self in Denmark vs. her need for comfort by a man like her childhood friend Ade (JJ Paulo), meanwhile experiencing more and more anxiety in that struggle between herself and the mask she puts on. They chose my idea, which was based on my experiences in the beginning of my 20’s and some of my fun afro hair salon moments, and they made me the consultant on the pilot. But because I wanted to show what I could do, I had already written the intro of the show before my first real meeting with the DR writer Asger Kjaer, who loved it so much that we switched roles. Within
the first week, I became the writer on the pilot, and he the consultant. I pitched it to DR’s youth segment, and started writing the whole miniseries together with Asger Kjaer, the finest comedy writer I could have asked for. We got the terrific director Patricia Bbale Bandak on the project, and she truly elevated the show with the finest team of artists. Not only did she understand the show, but she had cultural inputs that made total sense to my Ivorian culture that I was also portraying. The show got rave reviews and was in top 10 of both Danish and international shows according to the well-respected Politiken. The fact that it was also nominated for a Robert Award for best miniseries and for
best leading actress to me, was an absolute honor and beyond my wildest dream at that stage in my life. I couldn’t believe that I got to make my first show after 4 years of acting, and even set it in my own culture and get to speak in my mother tongue. And the biggest achievement in all of this, wasn’t only to be the first show about, with and by black people in Danish TV history honey, but to stand on the shoulders of people before me, and side-kick that gate open, and throw that damn key away. Boy bye!

You studied not only English but also Spanish growing up. How many languages do you speak? Which languages do you use while filming in your projects? And which language do you feel most comfortable to speak?

— I speak four languages. French is my mother tongue. However, when I came to Denmark with my dad, a wonderfully ambitious man, he stopped speaking French to me so we could both learn Danish faster and be part of our new home. So, I learned Danish really quickly from the age of five, and started forgetting more and more of my French. When we could pick between learning German or French in the 7th grade, I picked French. I wanted to reconnect with this huge part of me and my culture. By the time I got to high school, I was quite bored learning a language on a lower level than my skill set. So, I leaped towards another tree branch, but stayed in the same language family, choosing Spanish. It went really well and I absolutely adore the language. At this point, Danish is the language I know the best and feel most comfortable speaking, and it has basically become my second mother tongue. Sometimes I practice my Spanish on Duolingo. But everything comes back when I travel to these countries in general. It’s like having an extra cool backpack on you, happy to be used. Normally, I get American English-speaking roles, since I’m mostly working internationally, and American happened to be my natural English accent. But I’ve had the opportunity to do several accents in projects these past few years. I’ve also spoken a bit of French, playing Alyona in Alex Rider 3 (Amazon Prime).

You have various projects in your filmography. Some of them are «ALIEN», «Alex Rider», «Den store stilhed», «The Sommerdahl Murders», «Washington Black», «Bad Bitch» and others. In which genre do you like to act the most?

— It’s funny to look at that list and have a visual representation of everything I ever dreamed of. I mean, Sci-fi, action, drama, crime, adventure, comedy. That is wild. I’ve always wanted to do fantasy and adventure, ever since Harry Potter came out. My first international job turned out to be an adventure series, and the project from last year that I can’t discuss yet is a fantasy. Even though I enjoy a good genre film, and near future sci-fi inspires me a lot, which is why I love “Black Mirror” and anything the Nolan brothers touch, I just love being physical. Which is why I love action, and would like to do more physical comedy as well, because it’s a big part of my own humor. And the body is its own narrative in itself, which I want to explore more in roles, no matter the genre. Because in the end, to me,
it’s how I connect being human mentally, emotionally and physically, and how these parts work with or against each other. I find that interesting in roles and in the world.

In parallel to acting you’re also a playwright, and have produced, directed, made a podcast, and are also the writer of an award-winning short film «Doll» and «Robert» nominated TV series «Bad Bitch». Are you planning to develop further as a writer and filmmaker?

— Oh honey, yes! Actually, people always ask me if I want to act or write, and when I say “both”, they quickly ask “but if you had to choose?”. First of all, who is making me choose? Where is this person? I need to tell that person something. Why do we box each other in? Just because society tries to categorize you to understand you, you don’t have to do the same to others. Just listen to their happiness. It’s ok for people to want several things, divert, try new things, fail, go back or go further.
They’re still going to be on one path in the end, the one that makes sense to their soul. What makes sense to me, is to keep developing, creating art and access, make the craft my own and become a happy “octopus”.

If you could play any existing character, who would it be and why?

— Storm! As in, X-Men. She’s so fire man. I looove her. I would get up at 6AM on school days just to catch her on X-Men, the cartoon. She is empowering, strong-willed, soft inside, can flyyy, and looks like a goddess. That hair is top tier looks of all-time. And following an absolute queen with so much power, grace and charisma like Halle Berry, would be beyond. I also have a soft spot for femme fatale characters like Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. Sharon Stone did an unbelievably believable job in that role, and I would love to play a character with that kind of weaponized sexappeal, mystique and intriguing physicality and unshakable confidence.

We and your fans are now able to see you on the new season of «Alex Rider» on Amazon Freevee. That’s great news! Please share your filming impressions with us.

— It was amazing to embark on my first action job. The fact that I got to play Alyona, a trainee assassin, an orphan with a European accent who only has loyalty to the mission and her friends, was quite beautiful. It was really fun to play someone who was ruthless, slick and at the same time had a heart. I got to train stunts and learn to use weapons amongst such skilled choreographers like Will Mackay and Dani Biernat, as well as soldiers like Paul Biddiss, get new hilarious friends and colleagues, while traveling to Bristol and Malta for the first time, and it was such a moment. Experiencing the world, people, cultures, foods, architecture all fed me and spring time in Malta was just precious. I enjoyed every bit of it, and truly acknowledged “this is my life”. It got even better when my show “Bad Bitch” and I got Robert nominated, while I was shooting in Bristol. That was one of the best days in my career so far. Being out on a job, doing what you dreamed of, and being acknowledged for your dream by the academy at home. That was a whole moment of many happy tears and calling my family, getting virtual hugs.

Moreover, we know that in the series «Alex Rider» your colleague on the set is our adored Julian Kostov! What was it like working with him?

— Yuli is hilarious! He is a cheeky one, such a cool actor, very enjoyable to work with. Just really nice vibes, fun to push one another with and it’s always great to work with a fellow filmmaking actor in this beautifully tough industry.

Are there an actor or actress you dream of working together with?

— No doubt, Viola Davis and Morgan Freeman. She’s like the mother of black actresses of my generation. And he’s the father. They have inspired me more than they could ever know, and I thank them for being visual manifestations of what is possible. I aspire to be just that for someone out there.

In which projects will we see you in the future and can you tell us about them?

— I do have something in the pipeline, yes, and I’m excited to share it with you when the time is right. What I can say is, tune in next year and watch this gorgeous show I’m filming, the FX series ALIEN on Disney/Hulu, and then you’ll see me in Washington Black and that fantasy series, maybe sooner than later, or later. We’ll have to wait and see. I taught myself more patience in this industry, and after finishing a project, I try to look forward, so whenever the project gets released, it’s like “surpriiise! Ooooh right, I did do that!” Because as they say, a watched pot never boils. So, you might as well start on the next dish.

What would you like to tell your fans?

— I would tell anyone who is supporting me and my journey and others, do it yourself with like-minded friends. Anything you don’t have, just try to make it. No showreel? Write 1 min scenes, find a location, camera, sound and great lighting and film it with some creative friends, edit and send it out. No acting experience, same method, and apply for some classes or private lessons with professional actors. Your skin color, features, religion, hair/headscarf, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age etc. doesn’t give you any jobs? Stop and listen. Please, do not treat your uniqueness as a minority, just because your surroundings are doing so. Your uniqueness is only yours, grab it, nurture it, expand it, own it, learn it. Don’t wait by the phone. Go do your thing yourself with like-minded friends!

What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies?

— I’ve actually been really bad at taking up any hobbies outside the realm of filmmaking, because there were not more hours during the day. But that turned out to be untrue. There is just the amount of hours you need, it just depends on what you need need vs what you want to do. So, now I’m learning Muay Thai, I mean, when in Thailand right? And painting more than I used to, archery, and I’m learning to play the cello. I’m not sure what’s next, but I’m having fun exploring my being. That’s the essential.

Favourite movie?

— It would take months to list all of them, because they moved me in so many different ways. However, two films that continue to shake my core and my inner loving, sensitive child, are “Kirikou and the Sorceress”. It was the first animation feature I saw with black people and set in my Mother Land, West Africa. + The Lion King. It’s one of the first animation features I saw in Denmark that made me ugly cry, it has the best themes and it holds a special place in my heart.

Favorite TV series?

— “Friends”. On bad days and good days. I especially love Ross. His physical comedy is inspiring, and Joey is so wholesome. Also, Friends is one of the big reasons why my English is good, and so American,
because I watched it so much as a teen with my bonus mom. I thank her for introducing me to the language and accent that fuels my dream. + “Black Mirror” is one of the most genius shows that excites and terrifies me. + “Bad Bitch”, because it’s the first Danish show that understood me, and that turned out to be my own show, which is both the awful truth of the Danish industry and at the same time, it makes the show even more special to its audience and myself.

Favorite book?

— Alanna: Song of the Lioness, book 1. The first book that really resonated with my teenage self.

Your favorite quote?

— “I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.” - Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren.

Your favorite singer/band/composer?

— This is almost a harder question, because it’s such a mood thing. But at the moment, Labrinth really hugs and unlocks the different parts of me. My favorite composer is Hans Zimmer, because he reminds my system that it’s not a system, but a sea.

Your favorite song?

— At the moment, this one makes me smile all day, Aquila - Hello. Her voice is stunning, soothing and sunny!

Favorite season?

— Spring.

Marvel or DC?

— Can’t choose, but my favorite characters are Storm, Mystique, Black Panther and Batman…Batman holds a lot of weight though.

What's your Hogwarts House?

— Gryffindor forever.

Do you have an idol and if you do, who is it and why?

— My mom, because she’s the strongest, most resilient and compassionate person, who I’m so lucky to call my cheerleader and Godsent momma bear. She always knows what to say and is such a funny hype woman. I definitely want to be a good mix of her, my bonus mom and dad, when I grow up. And have my siblings’ ambition and perception of the world.