Yousef "Joe" Sweid ( ar, يوسف سويد, he, יוסף "ג'ו" סוויד; born 22 June 1976) is an

Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

actor and dancer.

Early and personal life

Yousef Sweid was born in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Israel, to a Christian-Arab family. He is a graduate of the theater department at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. Sweid was married to

Jewish-Israeli Israeli Jews or Jewish Israelis ( he, יהודים ישראלים, translit=Yehudim Yisraelim) are Israeli citizens and nationals who are Jewish through either their Jewish ethnicity and/or their adherence to Judaism. The term also include ...

Yael Ronen, a director at the

Cameri Theatre The Cameri Theater ( he, התיאטרון הקאמרי, ''HaTeatron HaKameri''), established in 1944 in Tel Aviv, is one of the leading theaters in Israel, and is housed at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. History The Cameri theater was found ...

. They had a son in 2009. In 2015 they divorced. In 2018, he married

television host Adi Shilon. Their daughter was born in October 2019. They reside mostly in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Theater and film career

He started out by joining the Arab-Hebrew Theater in

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

. He went on to participate in television shows including ''Dancing again tonight'' (1991), ''Lane of White Chairs'' (a winner at the 1996 Acre Festival), ''Oh Brother Boom Boom'' (which in 2003 won at the

festival for children's programming), ''Dragon'' (2004), and ''Immigrants'' (2005). On stage, he performed alongside Ruth Kanner in 2001's ''Things you can see from here, you cannot see from there''; in 2002 he appeared in ''Sea Shadow''. Sweid also participated in the international production ''The Time We Did Not Know Anything About Each Other'', and in the dance production ''Barefoot''. In 2001 he became director of a community theater program for both Arabs and Jews in

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

, a town with mixed population in Israel. In 2016, he played in one episode of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first ...

'' in its 6th season, as a Meereenese freedman.

Filmography

* 2002 : ''It's Not Me It's Not You'' (TV show) : Bartender * 2004 : ''Maktub'' ("Destiny", TV movie) : Atef, a

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

policeman * 2004 : '' Walk on Water'' : Rafik, an

Arab Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

waiter * 2005 : ''Kvish'' ("The Road") * 2005 : ''Telenovela Ltd.'' * 2006 : ''Ha 'Alufa'' ("The Champion", TV series) : Jalal Kasum, a footballer * 2006 : '' The Bubble'' : Ashraf, a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

(starring role) * 2008 : ''Restless'' : Arik * 2009 : ''

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

'' : Peter, a fanatic

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

leader in 4th-century

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

* 2011 : ''

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 ethni ...

'' (American TV show, pilot episode) : Hasan Ibrahim (credited as Yusuf Swade) * 2012 : '' Hatufim'' : Abdullah bin Rashid (Season 2 regular) * 2013 :

Omar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate o ...

: Torturer * 2015 : ''Johnny and The Knights of Galilee'' (Israeli TV show) : Kais * 2015 : ''

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 ...

: Amir Cohen (Amir Al-Hamati) * 2016 : ''The Writer'' (Israeli TV show) : Kateb * 2016: ''

'' : Meereenese freedman * 2018: ''

Tel Aviv on Fire ''Tel Aviv on Fire'' (Hebrew: תל אביב על האש, ''Tel Aviv Al Ha'Esh'') is a 2018 internationally co-produced comedy-drama satire film directed by Sameh Zoabi and co-written by Zoabi and Dan Kleinman. The film premiered internationally a ...

'' : General Yehuda Edelman * 2019: '' The Spy'' : George Seif * 2020: '' Baghdad Central'' (TV Mini-Series 2020) * 2020: '' Unorthodox'' (Netflix Series 2020) Sweid also animates the puppet ''Mahboob'' ("beloved" in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

) in ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' on Israel's Hop! channel.

References

External links

*
Yousef Sweid on 'The Champion'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweid, Yousef 1976 births Living people Israeli male dancers Tel Aviv University alumni Arab citizens of Israel Israeli male film actors Israeli male stage actors Israeli male television actors Israeli puppeteers People from Haifa Israeli emigrants to Germany Israeli Arab Christians