Mbissine Thérèse Diop

Mbissine Thérèse Diop (born 1949) is a Senegalese actress best known for her starring role as Diouana in the 1966 Ousmane Sembène film Black Girl (La noire de...), which is often cited as one of the first feature films of African cinema to go on to international acclaim.

Early life Diop was born in Dakar, Senegal to a Muslim father and a Catholic mother. The oldest in her family, Diop lived with her maternal grandfather until he died when she was two, at which time she returned to Dakar. Diop lived in Corsica when she was thirteen, where her hostess familiarised her with Josephine Baker.

In The Cineaste, poet A. Van Jordan wrote of Diop's performance in Black Girl: "Diouana (Mbissine Thérèse Diop) is one of those characters you fall in love with as soon as they enter the story. Diop is one of those actors you want to stare at a couple of hours, easy. So this is an equation for emotional investment--if not unbridled infatuation, at least--woven into the writing and the casting."

Emitai In 1971, Diop appeared in Sembène's film Emitai.

Later career Diop still works in textiles.