Nadia Melliti is a rising French actress who gained recognition for her powerful performance in the 2025 Cannes Film Festival award-winning film The Little Sister. Despite having no prior acting experience, the 23-year-old was discovered by a casting director during a random street casting in Paris and selected to play the lead role of Fatima, a young Muslim woman exploring her identity and sexuality. Born to Algerian parents, Melliti was initially a student pursuing a degree in sports and physical activities at the Sorbonne Paris Nord University. Alongside her studies, she was an active football player, skills that would later inform her nuanced portrayal of Fatima’s journey of self-discovery and emancipation. Melliti’s natural androgynous appearance and ability to convey the character’s internal struggles earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, a remarkable achievement for a newcomer.
