What is the best thing that I love about my work? The best thing I love about my work is the feeling of being where I need to be. I feel like I belong here, that I’m in the right place and that feeling fulfills my heart and makes me happy. I also love the fact that I have the chance to be part of a movie or a show that can give many different emotions to people. Making them happy, angry, sad especially makes them dream. That’s what I love about my job.

What is my idea of happiness? Happiness is when you are fully living a pleasant moment in your life and that or those pleasant moments make you happy. That feeling of being happy creates happiness. But we are not always living pleasant moments that make you happy. Sometimes some things are unpleasant and make you miserable and that feeling creates misery. But for me, to fully live a pleasant moment and have happiness, you also have to live unpleasant moments and have
misery sometimes. Of course, it’s better to have more happiness than misery, but life is what it is. Let’s just try to cherish those happy moments the best way that we can to nourish happiness and not misery.

Photo credits: Caroline Gimenez

What is my greatest fear? I have a strong fear of catastrophe/disaster that can result to the loss of love ones. I tend to control everything that I can and anticipate every life situation. That fear gives me a lot of anxiety. For example, when I’m in a concert, I’m always looking for emergency exits, thinking of what I will do if there is an earthquake or flood or a shooting or whatever kind of disaster. But that is not only towards me. When I don’t see people that I care about, I’m always thinking what if I receive a call telling me they have an accident, that they’re dead, missing whatever kind of bad news. It’s hard to live with that daily, but I do my best to try to make my brain understand that those thoughts are just thoughts and that they are not really going to happen and even though I can’t do much about it. What I can do is try to live to the fullest.

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself? If I had to answer this question a year ago, I would have probably said everything about me. But that’s not the case anymore. I think, today, what I most deplore in myself is that I care too much about everything. Everything is a big deal for me. Everything is important. I need to learn how to not care about things every time.

Which living persons in my profession do I most admire? I don’t only admire people of my profession. I admire many different persons. Most of the time I admire one of their skills in particular, not the whole person, obviously because I don’t know them personally. I admire Lisa’s from Blackpink dancing skills. I admire Camille Cottin’s, Margot Robbie’s, Anne Hathaway’s and many other, acting skills. I admire Adèle Haenel and Aïssa Maïga strength. I also admire Charlie’s Danger and my significant other knowledge.

What is my greatest extravagance? The only extravagance I can recall is me jumping into a river that was not made for it, in my underwear when I was 14 years old. Still today, I’m confused on how I ended up doing this, but I remember it was fun, but so not safe.

On what occasion would I lie? I rather not, but I guess I would lie if I knew that, what I want to say is probably going to hurt someone. If I don’t know yet how to say the thing that I want to say in a way that is not going to be perceived as hurtful, I will lie, I guess. But most of the time I lie about myself to protect the feelings of people I care about. When they ask me if ‘I’m ok’ for exemple. I don’t want to bother them with my issues, so I say, ‘yes I’m ok’.

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work? What I dislike the most is the lack of imagination in this industry. It might sound paradoxical but it’s normal because we can’t fully imagine something if we haven’t seen it before. When people create movies and tv shows, they create it from what they know first. Like for unicorns for example, first it’s a horse and then you imagine a horse with a horn, and you call it a unicorn or for fairies, you must have seen wings and flying things with wings to imagine a person with wings and call it a fairy. Creations always start with something real, so when a screenwriter is writing about a character, they are always imagining it from their own perspective, from their own life. There’s a lack of representations in life itself, it’s sad but logical that it’s the same in movies and tv shows. That’s what I dislike about my job, but I understand it. Nevertheless, understanding it doesn’t mean it’s ok.

When and where was I the happiest, in my work? When I’m working with my significant other. His name is Romain Picard, he’s a screenwriter and a director. That question made me realize that I love working with him. It is definitely when I’m working with him, that I feel the happiest. Last time I worked with him was for his movie “65H pour sauver la France”-65H to save France-. I had a great time, it was so much fun and thanks to him, I acted for the first time in a comedy movie, and I loved it.

If I could, what would I change about myself? I don’t think that I want to change anything about myself, because I feel like I wouldn’t be myself anymore. Being me is not always easy. Sometimes, I really want to change my brain. For a long time, I thought that my brain was malfunctioning or that I was maybe an alien but even though I still like being me.

What is my greatest achievement in work? For now (I hope that is not going to be my last) is the movie that I wrote. I discovered not so long ago that I enjoy writing, so I tried to write a short movie. The name of the movie is “Je t’abime”-Heart-. It’s a horror movie. Also, in my acting job, my greatest achievement would be the tv show called “Je te promets” French version of “This is us” that I took part in as an actress. It was my first acting job, and I had to improvise because the director wanted us to. It was quite challenging, since I was very nervous, but I did it and it went well. So, yeah both
are my greatest achievements. Can’t wait for the next ones.

Where would I most like to live? I love France, it’s where I was born, it’s the only country that I know, and I will never trade it for another country. Right now, I live in an apartment in France with a backyard, near the woods. I really love this apartment, but I wish I lived in a house, with a bigger backyard. So, for the question ‘where would I most like to live?’ I guess in a house still in France, not too far from downtown. I like quiet towns and nature, however I’m not a country girl.

What is my most treasured possession? I guess, my drawings alongside all my pens and different crayons, my notebooks, and my books. Those are my most treasured possessions. Oh, and my phone too, I mean what’s inside of my phone which is, pictures, videos and different notes. I have a backup save though, so, I guess my backup saves more than my phone.

What is my most marked characteristic? I think it’s my sensitivity. I’m a hypersensitive person and most of the time, it’s the first thing that people notice about me. Oh, and that I’m an introvert, that one is probably written on my forehead.

What is my most inspirational location, in my city? I don’t know, I don’t go outside very much. I usually stay in my apartment, backyard. So, I don’t really know. I guess my backyard or maybe the theater.

What is my favorite place to eat and drink in my city? Again, I don’t go out often, so I don’t know.

What books influenced my life and how? There’s this book that I read not so long ago. It’s called “Et à la fin, ils meurent tous – la sale vérité sur les contes de fées”, there’s no translation for this book but, it could be “And at the end, they all die – the dirty truth about fairy tales”. It really makes you rethink about how sometimes you can be certain about some things, but it’s actually more complicated than that. So, you have to learn to question yourself and your knowledge to always be open. Some people will come to you and say that Cinderella came from Europe, but history (from the book) tells us she came from China. Fairy tales have traveled to so many countries and that’s amazing. Some people decided to write those down instead of telling it like it used to be, without even mentioning that they come from all over the world. It’s a problem and it’s shadowing some people and culture instead of introducing them. Always try to question yourself, to expand your knowledge and culture and also try to share them, not shadowing them.

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen to on my last day? I don’t like talking about death, it really triggers me. I don’t know what music I will listen to when the day comes, for now I’m listening to a lot of kpop, especially Korean R&B/hip hop these days. So, if I still listen to that, maybe I would like to listen to Blackpink’s “As if it’s your last” song on my last day, which is my favorite Korean group.

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction? When I was younger, I would have probably said Hermione Granger from Harry Potter or Alex Russo from The Wizards of Waverly Place. But right now, I don’t know, I don’t think I have one. I like a lot of fiction, but I don’t really have a hero or heroine.

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life? My partner Romain Picard is my hero. He saved my life. I love him so much.

Which movie would I recommend to see once in a lifetime? There’s two, I can’t pick one. It would be The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola and The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook. My two favorite movies.

What role play stories in my life and work? Not sure on how to answer that question, but I’ll try to answer the way I understood it. I’m the main character of my life and for a long time I was not, I let people be the main character of my own life. I was living for others and their pleasure. It’s not the case anymore and I feel much better now. Being myself and the main character of my life is actually not a bad thing. I thought people would dislike me for being me, but it’s not the case. For the people close to me they got confused at first, but they are still part of my life. They still love me, and I still love them. But the ones who aren’t close to me, I should not care about them. I used to care too much, now I care less.

What do the words ‘You are the storyteller of your own life’ mean to me? I guess I am the storyteller of my own life, however I still have to be realistic. We live in a society where you do what you have to do to survive and live the most decent life that you can with what you have. Some people have it easy, some people do not. If I was really the only storyteller, there’s definitely things that wouldn’t have happened to me. Saying that means that all the bad things that happened to me are all my fault, because I am the storyteller of my life. Those narratives are for me, dangerous, because we all know that we live in a society where not everybody has access to everything that they want or need and saying that you are your own storyteller means that it’s somehow your fault if you don’t have access to a decent life. The reality is that some people have everything and can do anything but are not willing to share because they need us to stay that way to keep everything that they have. This narrative is created to make us responsible for what we have, but it’s not the truth. Don’t stop being the storyteller of your own life but, be aware that you’re not the only one in control.

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime? Romain Picard, my partner, and my best friend Inès Khammaci.

Which people or companies would I like to work with? There’s not a lot of persons that I would like to work with. The first one that I think of is Maïmouna Doucouré, because I love her movies. She chooses to write about stuff that is unseen and/or not told, that’s what I love about her movies. I also want to work with Fanny Herrero because I really loved “Dix pour cent” -Call my agent- and “Drôle” -Standing up-. The way she writes characters is amazing and so well done. Every character on her shows feels real, none of them are useless. I know that technically I will not work with her because for what I know now she is not a filmmaker, she is a screenwriter. Nevertheless, I want to work with her by making her story alive. I want to work with both of them because they are great
writers and filmmaker. I wish that one day, I could play on one of their stories.

What project am I looking forward to work on? I only did tv shows and short films, so I guess I’m really looking forward to work on a feature films. It’s not exactly the same way of working on set, so I want to discover that.

Where can you see me or my work? Here you can find my show reel https://vimeo.com/602652673 and you can also follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ceciliamodarymtg to stay up to date on my new projects.

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me? For me it means that passions will always live inside you, it will always be in your heart, so as much as you can, try to nourish that passion because it will never retire. Try your best, even though it might not be in the way that you have imagined it at first.

Which creative professionals should Peter invite to tell their story?
Inès Khammaci she works in an association of books, Camille Le Picard she works in
animation and Angel Allen she is a painter. Camille Le Picard Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/gacurama Angel Instagram and website:
https://www.instagram.com/angelallen.arts https://www.angelallenarts.com

How can you contact me? You can contact me on my Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ceciliamodarymtg or
through my agent agenttalentedinparis@gmail.com.