Mouna Traoré (born May 4, 1995) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in a variety of television series, such as

Global TV The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after CT ...

's ''

Rookie Blue ''Rookie Blue'' is a Canadian police drama television series starring Missy Peregrym and Gregory Smith. It was created by Morwyn Brebner, Tassie Cameron, and Ellen Vanstone. The series premiered on June 24, 2010, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/ ...

'' (2012), CBC's ''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...

'' (2015–2018), and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

's ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an American comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. The first six-issue limited series, '' The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite,'' was released by Dark Horse Comics betw ...

'' (2020). Her film work includes the 2017 films ''

The Drop In ''The Drop In'' is a Canadian short drama film, directed by Naledi Jackson and released in 2017. The film stars Mouna Traoré as Joelle, a hairdresser at a Black Canadian hair salon who faces an unexpected challenge when Grace ( Oluniké Adeliyi) ...

'', which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

, and ''

Brown Girl Begins ''Brown Girl Begins'' is a 2017 Canadian science fiction film, directed by Sharon Lewis. The film was inspired by Nalo Hopkinson's 1998 novel '' Brown Girl in the Ring'', although for budgetary reasons Lewis opted to write and film a prequel sto ...

'', directed by

Sharon Lewis Sharon M. Lewis is a Canadian television personality and film director from Toronto, Ontario. She studied political science at the University of Toronto.John McKay, "Sharon Lewis finds activism experience a plus for new role as CounterSpin host," ...

Early life

Traore was born and raised in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Canada. Her mother is from Haiti and her father is from Mali.

Career

Traoré began acting at a young age. She attended classes at the

Young People's Theatre Young People's Theatre (YPT) is a professional theatre for youth located in Toronto, Ontario. The company produces and presents a full season of theatre and arts education programming, performing to approximately 150,000 patrons annually. Founded ...

. She later graduated from the

Etobicoke School of the Arts The Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA) is a specialized public arts-academic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in Etobicoke, it has been housed in the former Royal York Collegiate Institute facility since 1983. Founded on September ...

, and completed a Bachelor of Arts and Science at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

. In 2017, Traoré starred in the short film ''

'', which premiered at the

.Wilson Morales
"TIFF 2017 Preview: Naledi Jackson’s Short Film ‘The Drop In’"
''Blackfilm'', August 31, 2017. She leads the film as Joelle, a hairdresser at a

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

hair salon who faces an unexpected challenge when Grace (

Oluniké Adeliyi Oluniké Adeliyi (born January 5, 1977) is a Canadian actress. She appeared in the 2010 horror film ''Saw 3D'' and starred as Leah Kerns in the television series '' Flashpoint''. Early life Adeliyi was born in Brampton, Ontario, of Jamaican-Nig ...

), a woman she knew in her prior life, drops in ostensibly for a haircut, but in fact with ulterior motives involving Joelle's immigration status. The film was named to TIFF's annual year-end

Canada's Top Ten Canada's Top Ten is an annual honour, compiled by the Toronto International Film Festival and announced in December each year to identify and promote the year's best Canadian films."Canada's Top Ten awards will honour excellence in Canadian cinema". ...

list for short films in December 2017. Also that year, she starred in the Afro-futurist feature film ''

'', opposite

Emmanuel Kabongo Emmanuel Kabongo (born December 25, 1986) is a Canadian actor and producer. Born and raised in Zaire before it became the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kabongo immigrated to Canada with his family in the 1990s. He began his acting career as ...

. The film was released theatrically in 2018 and screened at several film festivals. Traoré has featured in more than a dozen television series, beginning with a recurring role in the

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

children's comedy series, ''

Majority Rules! ''Majority Rules!'' is a Canadian teen comedy drama series which first aired on Teletoon in 2009. The series is also dubbed ''Votez Becky!'' for the French title. Airing The production company Entertainment One (at the time called E1 Entertainme ...

''. Her notable television roles include Crystal Markes on

's ''

''(2012), and Rebecca James on CBC's long-running detective series ''

'' (2015–2018). She auditioned several times for a part on ''Murdoch Mysteries'', before finally landing a recurring role on the series. In 2020, she starred in the

series ''Self Made'' as Esther, and ''

'' as Jill.

Other work

Traoré is the co-founder of a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, a ...

, The Mini Films, through which she has written and produced two short films. Her 2015 short film, ''Adorn'', won the award for Best Narrative Short at the

Montreal International Black Film Festival The Montreal International Black Film Festival is an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Held in September each year, the festival programs a selection of African, Caribbean, African American and Black Canadian films.John Griffin ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Production

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Traoré, Mouna Living people Actresses from Toronto Canadian film actresses Canadian television actresses Film producers from Ontario Canadian women screenwriters Film directors from Toronto Writers from Toronto Canadian women film producers Black Canadian actresses Canadian women film directors Canadian people of Malian descent Canadian people of Haitian descent Actresses of Haitian descent +Actresses 1995 births