Born in Ouagadougou in 1966, Issaka Sawadogo is an actor, dancer, musician and director. His career voyages between the south and the north, Burkina Faso and Norway where he is cultural advisor to the National Theatre in Oslo. In his own country, he is a founding member of Cito (Carrefour international du théâtre) where he has given workshops in voice and acting.

In the major cities of Norway and in the schools, he gives classes in storytelling, African dance and rhythm. He also creates theatre pieces which blend speech and music, choreography and acting: Djenjoba (2001), L'eveil (2000), Le roi des mouches (1997).
He has acted in television series: Hotel Cesar (2003), Taxi brousse (2005).
In the theatre, he has played the principal role in Combat de nègre et de chiens by B.M. Koltès (2004), L'angoisse mange l'âme ("Ali: Fear Eats the soul") by R.M. Fassbinder (2001), L'heure où nous ne savons rien l'un de l'autre ("The Hour Where We Know Nothing About Each Other") by P. Handke (1998), Hamlet by W. Shakespeare (1994), Peer Gynt by H. Ibsen (1995) at the Théâtre de la Fraternité.
In 2005, he received the prize for Best Actor at the Short Competition of the Film Festival of Namur. It was after seeing this film, Exoticor, by Nicolas Provost that Marion Hänsel met Sawadogo and cast him as Rahne (Sounds of Sand, 2006).