Sotigui Kouyaté
Sotigui Kouyaté (* around 1936 in Bamako, French Sudan, nowadays Mali, † April 17, 2010 in Paris) was a Burkinabe actor and former football player.
Life
Kouyaté 1936 ( other claims to 1934) born of parents originating from Gambia. He turned first to the football, playing on the position of the libero and came as a national player on the team for two inserts Upper Volta, today's Burkina Faso. He also worked as a boxer, nurse or official and turned after working for the radio to acting. In 1966, he founded a theater group with its own resources. From the early 1970s, followed by roles in feature films. In May 1983 Kouyaté has been discovered by British director Peter Brook for the theater production of the Indian epic Mahabharata and invited to Paris. The piece he has also appeared on Broadway in New York, after which further commitment to the Griot should follow in Brook.
After the success in the play Kouyaté relocated to France. He soon belonged to the core group around Brooks Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and went with success in its productions of William Shakespeare, Sophocles, but also contemporary authors on a world tour. In 1998, he presented as a director prior to a production of Sophocles' Antigone at the Theater Festival of Blaye, which should be laid later in the Malian Mandeka Théâtre.
1985 Kouyaté has appeared in the role of the marabout in Thomas Gilous award-winning feature film comedy Black Mic Mac on the side of Jacques Villeret and Isaach De Bankole. He was often - due to his tall, thin figure - occupied in the role of thick-headed, wise elders. He celebrated his biggest success in 2009 by winning the Actor price of the Berlin Film Festival for his starring role in Rachid Bouchareb's drama London River. With Bouchareb he had also collaborated on the award-winning film Little Senegal ( 2001).
Kouyaté was the father of ten children. His son Dani Kouyaté ( born 1961 ) has worked as a director and gave him in 1994 a role in the film Keita! L' héritage du griot (1994). Another son, Hassane Kassi Kouyaté, is a storyteller and actor by profession.
2010 Kouyaté succumbed at the age of 74 years, a lung disease.