Igal Naor ( he, יגאל נאור; born ) is an Israeli actor, sometimes credited as Yigal Naor. Naor was born in

Givatayim Givatayim ( he, גִּבְעָתַיִים, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population o ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, to

Mizrahi Jewish Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...

parents from

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. He has appeared in the American films ''

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

'', ''

Green Zone The Green Zone ( ar, المنطقة الخضراء, translit=al-minṭaqah al-ḫaḍrā) is the most common name for the International Zone of Baghdad. It was a area in the Karkh district of central Baghdad, Iraq, that was the governmental ...

'' and '' Rendition''. Naor portrayed

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

in the four-episode ''

House of Saddam ''House of Saddam'' is a 2008 British docudrama television miniseries that charted the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein. A co-production between BBC Television and HBO Films, the series was first broadcast on BBC Two (in the United Kingdom) in f ...

'' television docudrama from BBC and HBO (2008), in an acclaimed performance. In Season 5, Episode 4 of ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethn ...

'', he portrays General Youssef, a high-ranking Syrian military officer whom the CIA wants to install in place of

Syrian President The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discretion, to ...

Bashar Al-Assad. He also appeared in the Netflix series,

Fauda ''Fauda'' (, from ''fawḍā'', meaning "chaos") is an Israeli television series developed by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff drawing on their experiences in the Israel Defense Forces. The series premiered on February 15, 2015. It tells the stor ...

Selected filmography

* '' Deadline'' (1987) - Antoine * '' The Seventh Coin'' (1993) - Grocer * ''The Mummy Lives'' (1993) - Egyptology Official * '' Saint Clara'' (1996) - Headmaster Tissona * ''Ha-Dybbuk B'sde Hatapuchim Hakdoshim'' (1997; also known as ''Ahava Asura'') - Sender * ''Miss Entebbe'' (2003) - Avram * ''

Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi ''Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi'' ( Hebrew title: ''Ha-Kochavim Shel Shlomi'', ''Shlomi's Stars'') is a 2003 film written and directed by Shemi Zarhin. The story is about a 16-year-old Israeli boy, named Shlomi. Who cares for everyone in his life but ...

'' (2003) - Headmaster Avihu * ''

'' (2005) - Mahmoud Hamshari * '' Djihad!'' (2006, TV Movie) - Colonel Walid * '' Rendition'' (2007) - Abasi Fawal * ''

'' (2008, TV Mini-Series) -

* ''A House Divided'' (2008) - Ahmed * '' Occupation'' (2009, TV Mini-Series) - Dr. Sadiq Alasadi * ''

'' (2010) - Al Rawi * '' The Infidel'' (2010) - Arshad El-Masri * '' I Am Slave'' (2010) - Said * ''

Dead Europe ''Dead Europe'' is a 2012 Australian drama film directed by Tony Krawitz. It is an adaptation of the 2005 novel by Christos Tsiolkas with the same name. Peter Galvin from SBS gave the film three stars out of five, noting that the film is "dar ...

'' (2012) - Syd * ''

The Grass Crown ''The Grass Crown'' is the second historical novel in Colleen McCullough's ''Masters of Rome'' series, published in 1991. The novel opens shortly after the action of '' The First Man in Rome''. Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla eat dinner ...

'' (2012) * '' Sinbad'' (2012, TV Series) - Emir * ''Farewell Baghdad'' (2013) - Salman * ''

Ambassadors An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

'' (2013, TV Mini-Series) - President Karzak * ''

The Honourable Woman ''The Honourable Woman'' is a 2014 British political spy thriller television miniseries in eight parts, directed and written by Hugo Blick for the BBC and SundanceTV. Featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal in the title role, it aired on BBC Two in th ...

'' (2014, TV Mini-Series) - Shlomo Zahary * '' 300: Rise of an Empire'' (2014) - King

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

* ''Suicide'' (2014; also known as ''Hitabdut'') - Muki * ''

'' (2015, TV Series) - General Youssef * ''

False Flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

'' (2015, TV Series) - Gavriel "Gabi" Silver * '' The Women's Balcony'' (2016) - Zion * '' The Promise'' (2016) - Mesrob * ''

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

'' (2017, TV Series) - Jakob Negrescu * '' Stratton'' (2017) - Tariq Alawi * '' Maktub'' (2017) - Tzafuf * ''

Damascus Cover ''Damascus Cover'' is a 2017 political thriller film, directed by Daniel Zelik Berk, from a screenplay by Berk and Samantha Newton. It is based upon the 1977 novel of the same name by Howard Kaplan. It stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Olivia Thirlby, ...

'' (2017) - General Fuad * '' The Unorthodox'' (2018) - Rabbi

Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef ( he, , Ovadya Yosef, ; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthod ...

* '' On the Ropes'' (2018, TV Mini-Series) - Sami Al-Amir * ''

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

'' (2021, TV Movie) - Joel Singer * ''

Legend of Destruction ''Legend of Destruction'' ( he, אגדת חורבן, Agadat Khurban) is an Israeli animated historical drama film, directed by director Gidi Dar, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Shuli Rand (based on an idea by Dr. Etan Bloom) Talm ...

'' (2021) - John of Giscala * '' Wendell & Wild'' (2022)

Awards and nominations

, - , 1996 , '' Saint Clara'' , Best Supporting Actor ,

Ophir Award The Ophir Awards ( he, פרס אופיר), colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars or the Israeli Academy Awards, are film awards for excellence in the Israeli film industry awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. The award, name ...

, , ,

References

External links

*
Cast biography
on the microsite for HBO's ''

'' 1958 births Israeli male film actors Israeli Sephardi Jews Israeli people of Iraqi-Jewish descent Israeli male television actors Living people People from Givatayim Israeli Mizrahi Jews {{Israel-actor-stub