At the Beni Messous hospital in Algiers, Biyouna, born Baya Bouzar, an Algerian actress, singer, and comedian who became an icon on both shores, passed away on November 25, 2025. At 73, the Algerian actress of La Grande Maison, Délice Paloma, and Nass Mlah City succumbed to lung cancer and respiratory complications. Algeria, France, and Tunisia pay tribute to a free and popular voice.
In Algiers, the news that tightens the throat
On November 25, 2025, silence enveloped the Beni Messous hospital, on the heights of Algiers. There, Biyouna Baya Bouzar in civil status passed away at 73, after long years of battling lung cancer and severe respiratory complications. Rumors had been mingling with reality for months, between alert messages, denials on television, and public anxiety. The announcement was decisive. In Algeria, France, Tunisia, on social networks and in living rooms, the same shock spread. People mourn a popular, rebellious, and tender artist. Her deep voice and sharp humor added spice to Ramadan evenings. Moreover, they also enlivened the dark rooms.
Belcourt, the fiery childhood
It all begins in the Belcourt district of Algiers, land of Camus, sloping alleys, and windows open to the sea. She was born there on September 13, 1952, the youngest of a family where music was never far away. Very early on, the stage called her. She joined local troupes, learning timing, projection, and poise. At nineteen, she was a dancer in Algiers’ cabarets, notably at the Copacabana, where she electrified the port’s nights. She was not yet the figure that would captivate cameras, but she already imposed a presence: magnetic gaze, cheekiness, a way of stepping into the light as if cutting through a crowd.
Television ignites her, cinema scratches her
The house is called La Grande Maison and the role is Fatma. 1973. Algeria watches the series adapted from Mohammed Dib and discovers a face that immediately imprints itself in homes. Popularity propels her to the big screen. She is then seen in Leïla et les autres by Sid Ali Mazif as early as 1978, in La Voisine, and especially in the films of Nadir Moknèche. Three titles outline the arc of an actress who dares excess: Le Harem de Madame Osmane, 1999; Viva Laldjérie, 2003, Délice Paloma, 2007. In the latter, she embodies Madame Aldjéria Zineb Agha, a figure of a pimp and strategist, sovereign of asphalt and schemes, a now-classic character in contemporary Algerian cinema. She displays a blend of hardness and humanity that makes her unforgettable.
Over the years, France becomes part of her trajectory. She is seen in Il reste du jambon ?, Beur blanc rouge, Les Trois Frères: Le retour, Neuilly sa mère, sa mère!, and Le Flic de Belleville where she plays the hero’s mother portrayed by Omar Sy. An icon of Algerian cinema, she never loses her accent or her freedom of tone. She gains mixed audiences who recognize her as a spontaneous ambassador of Franco-Algerian bridges.
The seasons of the small screen, the liturgy of Ramadan
On television, she leaves a lasting imprint on collective memory. The trilogy Nass Mlah City from 2002 to 2005 establishes a joyful familiarity with characters that return with the rhythm of iftars and vigils. She later appears in the fictions Aïcha, in Tunisian sitcoms like Nsibti Laaziza where her character Barisa triggers cascades of laughter, and in numerous popular series. Recently, her face reappeared in Dar Lefchouch, where she portrayed the bittersweet accuracy of a psychologist, and in Edamma, a Ramadan drama presented as one of her last significant roles, with Halima, a sick and almost mute woman, an obstinate presence in the frame.
The loyal audience follows her from screen to screen. They anticipate her sharp lines, her way of bringing comedy back to reality. During Ramadan, an actress can become a ritual. Biyouna was that: an evening companion, a face of the extended family.
Music as a second stage
She never stopped singing. Two albums mark her journey: Raid Zone in 2001, then Une Blonde dans la Casbah, a project that blends Franco-Algerian repertoire, old loves, and popular rhythms. She is also heard in the Opéra d’Casbah led by Fellag, where her voice reconnects with its roots in orchestras and weddings, and in an unexpected choir, Bergman, on the album Bichon by Julien Doré. The stage also calls her: La Célestine in Paris in 2009, a one-woman-show in France in the 2010s, initiatives where her temperament serves as both decor and dramaturgy.
An end of journey under surveillance and rumors
Since 2016, the illness had crept in. By 2025, it took center stage: breathlessness, hospitalizations, transfers, then the final passage through the pneumology department of Beni Messous. News channels were moved, and websites repeated. Videos contradicted each other, some even claiming that the news of her death was "false." For weeks, her health became a soap opera, until that morning of November 25 when reality froze. Close ones mentioned acute respiratory distress, a drop in oxygenation, complications that eventually took her. Biyouna did not like complaints. She would not have wanted her last hours turned into a tribunal. A phrase remains, published on her Instagram account the day the news broke, as a final salute to the spectators: "My dear public, you are my heart. We will not forgive those who hurt me when I was at the height of my fame."
The character and the woman
On set, she displayed an insolence without malice. She spoke bluntly and truthfully. She knew how to turn a scene into a verbal duel, concluding with a pout that changed the game. Off-camera, she was committed to protecting her freedom. She was described as "tough," "direct," "magnetic." She responded with laughter and gestures of tenderness. Behind the scenes, technicians recount her way of gathering the team around a steaming dish. They also talk about replaying the Casbah with lingering songs. They wish to encourage the younger ones to dare more. Many actresses in Algeria claim her legacy. She provided a form of permission: to talk about age, desire, social class, without detours or hierarchy.
"Madame Aldjéria," mythological matron
There remains a silhouette that sums up the magnitude of the phenomenon: Madame Aldjéria. In Délice Paloma, Biyouna plays the head of an empire of makeshift and resourcefulness. She reigns over tiny deals and too-big dreams, sits on a chair like a throne. She makes every line a verdict. This performance, between cruelty and compassion, has long served as a benchmark. It helped those who wanted to measure her art.
Paris, Tunis, Algiers: a bridge actress
Biyouna‘s career was trans-Mediterranean. She filmed and acted in Algeria and France, collaborated with Tunisian teams, learned to navigate between sets, languages, and audiences. In Paris, she frequented theaters and studios. In Tunis, she inscribed her laughter in the imagination of local series. In Algiers, she remained the girl from Belcourt. From one country to another, she embodied a cultural bridge, more solid than passing controversies.
The scenes we won’t forget
We will remember her in a makeshift saloon, planting a youyou that stops the music. We will see her again in a TV lounge, settling in the center of a sofa to restore order. This will happen in an entire family, through repartees and raised eyebrows. We will hear her again, microphone in hand, defending a standard, then laughing at her own audacity. Nass Mlah City will replay, Nsibti Laaziza too, and it will be like a reunion. In cinema, we will return to Viva Laldjérie and Délice Paloma. We will look for her appearance alongside Omar Sy in Le Flic de Belleville. Time, for such a popular actress, is not an enemy. Time puts films back in circulation and revives dialogues.
A shared mourning
The Franco-Algerian community reacts with one voice. Messages flow in, mixing Arabic and French, evoking memories of vigils, celebrations, lines. On streaming platforms, her tracks gain listens. Excerpts from her interviews circulate like bursts of energy. Tributes agree on a few words: freedom, tender audacity, generosity, popularity without vulgarity. In the background, there is also a concern: what place remains for fifty-something and seventy-something actresses in an audiovisual landscape that makes them invisible too quickly? Biyouna proved that maturity could lead roles and provoke genuine laughter.
What her absence tells us
The disappearance of Biyouna reminds us of the importance of a popular anchorage in the arts. She knew how to hold together the Casbah and the Plateau, the wedding song and the art-house cinema. She allowed millions of viewers to recognize themselves beyond clichés. She offered directors an actress capable of leaving her mark on a scene with her mere entrance. She also reminded us that an artist’s journey could remain undisciplined, distant from career strategies. Indeed, it remains faithful to a voice rather than a trajectory. Many images of her will survive: those of a smile that does not excuse everything, of a gaze that disarms and commands at the same time.
Tribute to Biyouna: some milestones for memory
From Belcourt on September 13, 1952, to Beni Messous on November 25, 2025, Biyouna spans five decades of images and scenes. In 1973, Fatma in La Grande Maison installs her in every home; in 2007, Délice Paloma engraves Madame Aldjéria in collective memory. From 2002 to 2005, Nass Mlah City makes her the ritual of Ramadan evenings. Between Algeria, France, and Tunisia, popular roles contribute to a cultural legacy. Moreover, the albums Raid Zone and Une Blonde dans la Casbah mark this legacy. Furthermore, the stage with La Célestine composes a legacy of freedom and tender audacity.