Mariam Kaba

Mariam Kaba (born 9 August 1961) is a French-Guinean actress.

Kaba was born in Kankan, Guinea, the daughter of Mohamed Ba Kaba, a diplomat and the author of several books on Islam. She moved to France in the early 1980s. After receiving her baccalaureate, Kaba enrolled at École des nouveaux métiers de la communication largely at the behest of her father. She only attended the school for a year and spent the money her father sent her on acting lessons, studying under Isabelle Sadoyan.

Kaba's first stage role was as the wife of Toussaint Louverture, alongside Benjamin Jules-Rosette, director of the Théâtre noir in Paris. Soon thereafter, she landed a role in the TV series Marc and Sophie. In 1989, Kaba made her film debut in Périgord noir, directed by Nicolas Ribowski. She played Maina, a young woman who came to work in the Périgord region. In 1992, she starred in her first African film, Blanc d'ébène. A World War II epic directed by Cheik Doukouré, she played a nurse engaged to the teacher Lancéi Kanté. Later in the year, Kaba appeared in Idrissa Ouedraogo's Samba Traoré. She collaborated with Doukouré again in 1994, in Le Ballon d'or.