Chlef, Algeria | 1921-08-24

Doudja Achachi is an Algerian actress born on August 24, 1921 in Chlef, Algeria. Still young, she took her bundle to the capital Algiers where she was welcomed by her aunt. She will do a few odd jobs, before her eyes are completely dazzled by the first light of the artistic world. It was the light of the national ballet barely created after independence and Doudja was barely twenty years old. The discovery of the artistic arena will be decisive. We offer her a role, a game, she says yes straight away because something moves in her heart, tickles. "It was in the 60s and I had been running a dry cleaning store for a while. While passing by, Nadir Romani and Brahim Bahloul asked me to be part of the first national ballet, the newly created El Manar. J "I went to see it, I didn't like it anymore, I left the store for ballet. Afterwards I did a little training at the Bordj El Kiffan youth center." She therefore begins like most of these friends with the Algerian National Theater (TNA) when it was created just after independence. "The first show in which I was to participate took place in Switzerland, on the first of November! Lack of potency, I fell seriously ill and was hospitalized for two months in Switzerland. The fact remains that I keep one excellent memory." In 1981 she was the victim of a serious accident while on her way to Reliziane for the filming of "Le Refus". “I didn't shoot any footage of this film since I was in a coma for about twenty days. At the time, it was Lakhdar Hamina who headed the ONCIC, I was paid anyway.” Fate is going after Doudja, one would say, “Rather Tabaâ” (evil eye)!” she said, laughing. Throughout her rich international career, she played roles in cinema and television. Today, after more than half a century of career, Doudja Achachi has become a legendary figure in Algerian and Arab cinema in general. “Art flows in my veins”, I love both, cinema and theater.