Fast five with Sofia Boutella

1. MENTOR MADDY

The 34-year-old actress, raised in France, had been Madonna's back-up dancer since 2006 and credits her positive work attitude to the US pop icon. Madonna taught her "a lot of discipline and hard work", Boutella told New York Daily News.

Her decision to give up dancing to pursue acting surprised Madonna, she told The Hollywood Reporter, but the latter encouraged her to follow her dreams.

2. BLADES OF GLORY

Boutella's big break came two years after her last dance with Madonna at the 2012 Super Bowl. She knocked it out of the park with her performance as the razor-legged assassin Gazelle in 2014's Kingsman: The Secret Service.

"I hadn't worked for two years and then, boom! I got Kingsman," she said.

"I consider myself very lucky and I'm very grateful, especially knowing that I come from a country where kids don't have the opportunity to do what I do because of a bloody civil war.

"I left. Very few have the chance to leave and here I am doing all this stuff."

3. SPACE BABE

Boutella once again steals the show as Jaylah, the alien warrior with the kabuki make-up in Star Trek Beyond, now showing in cinemas.

Co-star and scriptwriter Simon Pegg said the inspiration for the new character came from US actress Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar-nominated role in the indie drama Winter Bone (2010).

Boutella described Jaylah as a tough survivor, much like Captain Kirk (Chris Pine). She single-handedly helps Kirk and his crew escape the clutches of the evil Krall (Idris Elba) who has a personal vendetta against the Enterprise.

4. COLOUR ME BADASS

The fight scenes and choreography were manageable, said Boutella. But what she wasn't prepared for was the four hours of make-up she needed to endure every day.

She said: "I can't imagine playing Jaylah without that make-up on because it does something to you, the same way if you wear heels - it gives you something else, a different posture."

5. HOT MUMMY

Now that she is done with Star Trek Beyond - she may return in the next instalment - Boutella is heading to another realm for yet another Hollywood blockbuster.

She has just finished filming the upcoming reboot of The Mummy alongside Tom Cruise, where she also had to endure long make-up sessions to play the titular Egyptian monster.

Boutella told Time magazine: "(Tom) taught me a lot, on and off set. I feel very lucky."

This article was first published on July 27, 2016.
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