Marwan Kenzari (; born 16 January 1983) is a Dutch-Tunisian actor. Starting his career in 2008, he first came to prominence for his role in the 2013 film Wolf, which earned him a Golden Calf award for Best Actor. Since 2016, he has been portraying roles in English-language films, including Aladdin (2019), The Old Guard (2020) and Black Adam (2022), which earned him international recognition.
Early life and education
Kenzari was born on 17 January 1983 in
The Hague, Netherlands, to a
family. His father was a construction worker, while his mother was a housewife.
As a teenager he was mainly interested in football before a girl he was seeing signed them up to audition for the Dutch version of the musical
Chicago.
In 2009, Kenzari graduated at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts.
After graduation he was recruited by the Toneelgroep Amsterdam,
which allowed him to tour in
Moscow,
London,
Vienna and New York City with the group.
Career
Kenzari has acted in films and TV series in his native Dutch since 2008. In 2013, he won a Golden Calf for Best Actor at the Netherlands Film Festival for his role in the feature film
Wolf (2013).
[ Gouden Kalf winnaars , Netherlands Film Festival. Retrieved on 28 March 2015.] He trained for over a year to play the role of kickboxer Majid. With his toned body, he was also featured on the cover of Dutch
Men's Health in 2013.
His performance in the film was well received by critics, with
Variety naming him an "International Star You Should Know".
In 2014, Kenzari won a Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2016 he appeared in the English-language films Collide, Ben-Hur and The Promise, which resulted in The Hollywood Reporter naming him amongst their list of "15 International Breakout Talents of 2016".
He starred as the controversial Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officer Raymond Westerling in the 2020 film The East, which was released on Amazon Prime Video.
Personal life
Kenzari speaks
Arabic,
Dutch language,
English language and
French language.
Filmography
Film
| +Key | | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Television
|
| 7 episodes |
| TV movie |
| 1 episode |
| 8 episodes |
| 4 episodes |
Awards and nominations
|
|
| 2013 | Golden Calf Awards | Best Actor | Wolf | |
SUBTITLE European Film Festival | Angela Award | |
| 2014 | | Best Dutch Actor | |
Shooting Stars Awards | Shooting Star | Himself | |
| 2019 | Teen Choice Awards | | Aladdin | |
| 2020 | Golden Calf Awards | Best Actor | Instinct | |
External links
