An actress's insight into diversity, denial, and advocacy in cinema

Lëtzebuerger Journal: To what extent did your identity play a role in how you perceive yourself in the world?

Céline Camara: I see myself as having a hybrid identity, I was born and raised in France, and my family is from Africa. I was raised with two principles; firstly, that as a black person, I will have to work harder. The first time I went to school, my mom said to me 'You will have to work twice as hard and, also, don’t blame everything on racism.' So I was really conditioned to inequality, to work harder, and that is an idea I have completely assimilated into my mind. On the other hand, there is this idea that you need to be tough. This caused me to form a shield around myself and also a certain level of denial around certain issues at first.