Ali Ismail was born in Djibouti in 1978 to an Issa family,[1] and in 1992 settled in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as part of a wave of immigrants who left the poor and politically unstable African country.[7] The youngest of eight children, she studied office automation, and worked as a legal assistant for seven years, but developed an interest in the world of acting and cinema, and began to take courses on the subject.[4] At first, she played minor roles at several television series in Quebec, but found more interest in filmmaking.