Gigi Dia’s recent work has placed her in three very different settings: a motel created for an Ari Lennox series, a desert road in a cinematic campaign for Meadow and a national beauty commercial for Victoria Jackson’s No Makeup Makeup®. Together, the projects show an actress building a career in traditional film, digital entertainment and major commercial productions in the United States.
Dia joined the cast of Vacancy Motel, a YouTube miniseries led by Grammy-nominated singer Ari Lennox. The first episode arrived in early 2026 and quickly surpassed 130,000 views, introducing Dia to an audience that may have known Lennox’s music but had not necessarily seen her in this type of scripted project.
The series takes the familiar idea of a motel and gives it an offbeat personality, with Lennox and Gigi at the center of a cast that helps bring its unusual collection of characters to life. For Gigi, the project gave her the chance to bring together music and comedy in a scripted series. Its success on YouTube also reflects how viewers are discovering actors today.
That flexibility has become an important part of Dia’s career. Born and raised in France, she moved to Los Angeles after beginning her professional work in Europe. Since then, she has built a career in the American entertainment industry while still working on international productions.
The French actress continued that development. Directed by Jackie Lee and produced by Meg Darboune of No Storage Productions, the campaign was conceived as a commercial short film instead of a conventional advertisement. Its longer format gave Gigi Dia more room to approach the material as an actress, while the production used the visual language of cinema to introduce Meadow’s identity. The project came at a time when brands have become more ambitious about the films they create. Instead of relying only on short product shots, companies are working with directors, producers, and actors to make pieces that can hold an audience’s attention on their own. Slow Down is one of those campaigns that can function as both advertising and a scripted screen project.
Like many well-known actresses who serve as the face of beauty campaigns and other consumer brands, Dia has become a familiar face in beauty and makeup campaigns. This time, she became the face of a campaign for Victoria Jackson’s No Makeup Makeup®, a brand Meghan Markle has worn during several public appearances and shared as part of her beauty routine on Instagram. Jackson’s brand was also later included on Oprah Winfrey’s Favorite Things list. The commercial aired for several months on cable television and was also shown on connected TV and major streaming platforms throughout the United States.
Earlier in her career, she appeared in a Beautyblender and Sephora campaign promoting a concealer available in 40 shades. She later worked with Urban Decay, OFIR Cosmetics, One/Size by Patrick Starrr and NYX Professional Makeup. She has also appeared in several campaigns for Haus Labs by Lady Gaga, including retail displays at Sephora locations throughout the US, Canada, and the UK.
Her path to where she is today, began in France with Niofar, in which she played a young Senegalese woman who had recently arrived in the country. The film received 21 festival selections and six awards. She later appeared in Un Homme Pressé with Leïla Bekhti and Fabrice Luchini, as well as Mission: Impossible Fallout, directed by Christopher McQuarrie.
After relocating to Los Angeles, Dia continued working in film and television. Her credits include HBO’s Insecure and Ryan Murphy’s The Prom, where she worked on a production featuring Meryl Streep and Kerry Washington. She also appeared in the French feature L’Enfant du Paradis, directed by Salim Kechiouche and starring Kechiouche and Nora Arnezeder.
Music has remained another consistent part of her career. Dia appeared in Counting Crows’ “Elevator Boots,” directed by Bill Fishman and featuring Clifton Collins Jr. and Josefine Lindegaard. She later worked on Kehlani’s “Little Story” and appeared in “My Body Isn’t Ready” by Sombr alongside Obsession actress Inde Navarrette. Directed by Gus Black, the video attracted considerable attention and added another music project to Dia’s screen work before her appearance with Lennox.
She has also taken greater control of her own material. After raising more than $30,000, Dia produced, directed and played the lead in the short film Our Boat. The film had its world premiere at LA Shorts International Film Fest, an event that qualifies projects for consideration by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
More recent acting credits include Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, and Lauren Caster’s Rhythm Is a Dancer. The latter premiered at the Austin Film Festival before becoming available through Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video. Dia has also continued booking campaigns for companies including Microsoft, AT&T, Google, Anastasia Beverly Hills and SHEGLAM. Now, following her short film Our Boat, Gigi Dia is currently developing a feature film that she wrote and plans to star in. The plot is being kept under wraps for now.
