Sofia Boutella knows what it’s like to lose a home.
Born and raised in Algeria, Boutella was 10 when she and her family fled to Paris after Algeria descended into civil war.
Now 41, she drew on that formative experience for Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic “Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire” as Kora, a mysterious woman who has been uprooted from her former life and must create a new one in a village on a distant moon. Like Kora, Boutella understands what such a journey takes from you and what it gives in return.
“There is something that happens when you remove yourself from your country of origin that is very powerful,” Boutella said. “I don’t feel a sense of belonging to a territory. But at the same time, I feel such a strong sense of being part of this earth and a connection to it as a whole.”
Before turning to acting, Boutella danced — attending ballet class in Algiers when she was a girl and, finding a semblance of stability when she continued with ballet as well as jazz, contemporary and hip-hop in France. She also tried rhythmic gymnastics and spent a year on her new country’s national team.
When she was 19, she became a dancer for a Nike Women’s campaign, crisscrossing the globe, and soon landed a gig as a stage dancer for Madonna, a life-changing experience that opened the door for work with Rihanna and Usher.
“I was a tomboy when she met me,” Boutella said of Madonna. “She gave me my first pair of heels.”
During breaks from touring, Boutella pursued her dream of becoming a theater actor, studying under the influential Elizabeth Kemp in Paris and later at the Stella Adler academy in Los Angeles.
But her breakout moment as an actor involved intense action: playing Gazelle, Samuel L. Jackson’s lethal henchman with blades for feet, in the 2014 original “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” That performance led to other action roles, including the titular character of “The Mummy” (2017) and Charlize Theron’s fellow spy in “Atomic Blonde” (2017).
Then along came “Rebel Moon,” which begins streaming Thursday on Netflix. When Boutella received a callback to play Kora, she was both thrilled and anxious. “I was terrified at first because I just wanted to do well and I was intimidated in an inspiring way to be directed by Zack Snyder,” she said.
During a recent video interview from a hotel in Los Angeles, Boutella discussed life in Algeria, the connection between dancing and acting and what drew her to Kora. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What was it like to grow up during a civil war?
I think for a child it’s not something you realize really, especially if you haven’t known life any differently. We had a curfew, and we would hear bombs exploding here and there. It was something that I was just, in a weird way, used to. I think it was a different experience for my mother. My dad already lived in France and was traveling a lot. My parents separated when I was 4. But during those 10 years, I would go visit him in France here and there. Once I started going to France I started to see that life is different elsewhere. But when you’re so young, your perception is a bit warped.
That must have been a huge transition to move to France at 10 years old.
The aspect I could not have anticipated was the culture shock and how quickly I had to adapt. I remember going to school for the first time and not being able to speak because the amount of information that was thrown at me constantly was so overwhelming.
The one place I found refuge, where I found commonality with when I was in Algeria, was art and when I started dancing again in France, because I felt that there were no differences. We all spoke the same language and we all had the same culture in a way that felt comfortable and felt like home.
But outside of that, it was a different experience. Going to school in Algeria, we all wore blouses, so every social class was the same. But in France we were all judged by the way we looked and how cool we were, and I definitely was not cool.
What did you particularly enjoy about dancing?
It’s basically a whole other form of communication and it’s a different language. What I loved was the ability to just let so much of what I felt out. It was a refuge for me. I felt safe. And I just felt alive when I danced. I still do.
Do you still dance now?
I will always dance. Let’s put it that way. I dance for people around me. For my friends for free. Not for a job. I would love to do a dance musical. I don’t know if I will go on tour again as a dancer. I think those years are behind a bit right now.
You’ve take on roles in a lot of action movies. Is there something about action movies that you love?
It’s just how it happened. When I stopped dancing, I didn’t think, “OK, I’m going to be an action person.” My love for cinema is really pure and for theater. I didn’t think at all that I would do action. When I booked “Kingsman,” I hadn’t done any martial arts or fight training in my life. But my dance training gave me the ability to learn another physical form, like martial arts. So I use the same principles of discipline and using your body, learning choreography by observation.
What drew you to “Rebel Moon”?
It’s my first leading role. For the longest time I told my team I didn’t want to play a lead. It was from a place of feeling deeply that I got so lucky to be able to be on set with incredible actors. Starting with “Kingsman,” Sam Jackson mentored me through that experience in a tremendous way. And he still is very present in my life. After that I got the chance to work with Zach Quinto and Chris Pine [in “Star Trek Beyond”], who elevated me so much, and then Tom Cruise, who taught me tremendously [on “The Mummy”], then Charlize in “Atomic Blonde.” The only way to keep learning is to have a mentor, and I don’t know if it’s because of my dance background, but I enjoy the state of being an apprentice.
Around the time I booked “Rebel Moon,” I remember telling my team, I think I’m ready. You could always see that Zack had such strong women that had their own voices in his films. And I love that for this project he was able to make his protagonist a woman, and not only a woman who is a badass, but he gave Kora a true dilemma to overcome, true emotions that are very, very deep and complicated.
