Communication senior David Diouf might not have ended up where he is today if not for a movie he now calls “stupid.”

He first saw the film — “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” — at a friend’s birthday party. 

“For some reason, 13-year-old me thought that was the most human, most touching, most revolutionary experience of all time,” Diouf said. “I thought that I wanted to get involved in something like that.”

Growing up in Senegal, Diouf fell in love with visual and performing arts at a young age. He practiced drawing and community theater alongside his sister, but it wasn’t until his friend’s party that he discovered his true callings: acting and filmmaking.

In “Fantastic Beasts,” Diouf was entranced by the performance of Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, an ordinary human exposed to the world of wizards. Kowalski is an adoring side character who aspires to be a baker and offers the audience a comedic reprieve from the more serious scenes of the movie. 

The particular scene that solidified his admiration for Fogler was the film’s emotional ending. Kowalski, having become fully immersed in the wizarding world by the story’s conclusion, must sacrifice his memories due to his non-wizard status.

“Dan Fogler is the only reason I act, and I’ve never seen Dan Fogler in anything else,” Diouf said. 

From then on, Diouf actively pursued acting and directing. Throughout high school, Diouf participated in a variety of theatre productions. But his big break came after his high school graduation. 

In his senior year, Diouf auditioned for the Apple TV show, “The Changeling,” which follows a man as he searches for his missing wife. Diouf starred in two episodes after successfully landing the role of “jovial young man” Arthur, who serves as a catalyst for the family. For Diouf, the role was awe-inspiring.

“I felt so Hollywood,” Diouf said. 

Filming commenced during Diouf’s freshman year at Northwestern. To film, he flew to Bogotá, Colombia from Evanston. 

Although shooting only took three days, Diouf was there for a week. The extended time allowed him to explore Colombia and form deeper relationships with his co-stars and the crew. 

“Getting to know the people, getting to know the crew was sort of a revelatory experience for me,” Diouf said. 

One of Diouf’s favorite moments with the cast was having dinner with them, he said. The dinner allowed him to get to know the cast on a more personal level and learn more about the ins and outs of the industry.

Diouf said his experience with “The Changeling” marked the first time he felt fully immersed in an acting environment. 

During a scene with a prop gun, Diouf said he felt genuine fear even though he knew the gun was fake. This allowed him to experience the scene more profoundly, he said.

“It was this sort of switch in my brain that if I give myself to these imaginary situations fully, then I’m really able to lean in fully and then give the performance that my 13-year-old self wanted to give so bad after seeing ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,’” Diouf said.  

The eight-episode series was released in 2023 to generally favorable reviews. Diouf said he deeply enjoyed filming the show. However, what really stuck with him was watching the premiere with his family. 

Serving as an inspiration and support system for his work, Diouf felt an enormous sense of gratitude in having them be among the first people to view the show. 

“It felt like a thank you to all of them that we were able to sort of share that moment together,” Diouf said. 

Diouf credits many people as inspirations in his work, both behind and in front of the screen. He said he admires actor Jeffrey Wright as a cultural cornerstone and main inspiration, actress Viola Davis and directors Ryan Coogler and Jordan Peele. However, the most important are the family and mentors closest to Diouf. 

Three individuals of particular importance are his mother, sister and Communication professor Felicia D. Henderson. 

“My mother supports me on an emotional level. She’s my rock, she’s my best friend. My little sister is the reason I do most of the things that I do. And Felicia, my mentor, is sort of this force to be reckoned with that’s really inspiring,” Diouf said. 

Diouf also professed admiration for Catherine Carrigan, a Communication academic advisor and assistant professor in the Radio, Television and Film department. 

Carrigan first met Diouf during his freshman year, when he told her about “The Changeling.” She said she knew that day that he was destined to do great things. 

“From the first moment I met him, I was like, ‘He’s the first one,’” Carrigan said. “He’s the person who’s going to figure out how to do a lot, how to do it conscientiously and to do it really well.” 

The two have maintained a close relationship since then, with Diouf visiting Carrigan’s office often to ask her about what she’s working on or see how her family is doing. 

They even have a three-year running joke. Carrigan said Diouf told her that he is obligated to thank her in all future acceptance speeches.

“Often when he sees me, he says, ‘I don’t forget. I won’t forget when it comes time,’” Carrigan said.

Rivaling Diouf’s love for acting is his passion for directing. Diouf has directed multiple projects, but his most recent is his short film, “Holy Mother,” which premiered at the MultiStudio Premiere in June. 

The short film was also selected to screen at the Maryland Film Festival Nov. 6 and 9. 

Diouf covers a wide range of topics in his films, but he said some hold stronger personal relevance to him than others. 

“Holy Mother” addresses grief head-on. Starring Diouf himself, the short film focuses on a grandmother and grandson as they prepare for a funeral. 

“One of the topics that keeps circling throughout my writing and throughout the performances tends to be grief,” Diouf said. “Grief and loss have been, at least for the last couple of years, at the epicenter of most of the things that I write or do.”

For Diouf, “Holy Mother” has been one of his favorite projects to date. He developed the script over the course of a year and said it allowed him to feel comfortable in his directing abilities. 

Most rewarding, Diouf said, were the responses following the short film’s release. 

“It felt heartwarming to know that the initial reason why I got into filmmaking was to tell stories that make people want to feel more human, stories that make folks want to call their brother, their sister, their mother, their friend,” Diouf said. “To hear that even just a tiny bit, I was moving towards my goal when the story was emotionally impacting people, it really did mean a lot.” 

Communication senior Lee Ekong is a frequent collaborator of Diouf’s and was the editor for “Holy Mother.” The two first met during Wildcat Welcome when they were in the same peer advising group. 

Their first collaboration occurred in the Spring Quarter of their freshman year, and since then, Ekong has always been Diouf’s go-to editor. 

“It has just been a given that if David is working on a project, I’m editing,” Ekong said. “He is honestly the only person on campus that can walk up to me and be like ‘Hey, I’m working on something, you’re going to edit it,’ and I’ll go ‘Yeah, ok. Sure.’ He is the only person.”

Ekong said that working with Diouf is unlike working with any other director. Even outside of their working relationship, Ekong praised Diouf’s friendship. 

What they admire most is Diouf’s devotion to his work and those working with him. 

“He is so, so passionate about what he does, and it’s infectious,” Ekong said. “He’s like the hype man you never knew you needed in every context ever.”

Another of Diouf’s frequent collaborators, Communication senior Jackson Heller, shared many of Ekong’s sentiments. 

Like Ekong, Heller and Diouf met because they were in the same PA group during Wildcat Welcome. The two co-wrote a script during Spring Quarter of their freshman year that earned them a Studio 22 Productions grant. 

Since then, they’ve worked together on several different projects in many different places, including subletting a house the summer before their junior year to make films and traveling to Maine over spring break to shoot another film.

“I’m always right there for him; he’s always right there for me,” Heller said. 

There are a myriad of traits Heller appreciates about Diouf, such as his ability to stay calm under pressure and his enthusiasm. But he praised Diouf’s work ethic above all else. 

“His work ethic is infectious to be around,” Heller said. “Every time I’m working with him, I feel like I’m going to make it, I’m going to do what I love for the rest of my life, because I think he dedicates so much of himself to that.”

Currently, Diouf is working on his senior thesis project, a film entitled “Shithole.” As graduation approaches, another short-term goal of his is to join the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and find more professional work as an actor. 

Further into the future, Diouf hopes to make a feature film within the next five years, consistently guest star in both television and film and take care of himself mentally. 

But Diouf said his most important goal is giving back to his community. 

“It’s often hard for kids that are like me who maybe don’t have the right background to access these doors, so my goal is to create a community hub for them,” Diouf said. “Provide them with resources, provide them with mentorship. I think mentorship is so important.” 

Diouf also hopes to maintain the sense of community he has created at NU. He said he enjoys the time he spends with clubs like the MultiCultural Filmmakers Collective, Black Screens and the club basketball team because of how helpful they have been in providing an outlet for him to express himself. 

While these goals seem lofty, Diouf stays grounded with a piece of advice he received from his mentor.  

“Just keep crawling,” Diouf said. “At one point, you’ll start walking, and maybe even at one point, you’ll start running.”

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