Youssef Kerkour is a Moroccan-British actor. He is best known for portraying Syrian refugee Sami in the comedy-drama series ''
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
'', a role for which he was nominated at the
2020 British Academy Television Awards
The 2020 British Academy Television Awards were held on 31 July 2020, hosted by British director and comic actor Richard Ayoade.
The nominations for the jury awards were announced on 4 June 2020, whilst the nominees for the audience award, "Vir ...
.
Early life and education
Kerkour grew up in
Rabat, Morocco
Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...
.
His father was a Moroccan
mathematics professor and his mother an English school teacher; they had met in France in the 1960s and moved together to Morocco.
As a child, Kerkour loved to sing and dance,
and idolised
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that ...
after his father took him to a screening of the film ''
Enter the Dragon
''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon and Jim Kelly. It was Lee's final completed film appearance before his death o ...
''.
In his early teens, Kerkour took a school trip to
Stratford-upon-Avon, England, the home town of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, and attended a production of
''Henry V''; he credits this experience with inspiring his love of acting.
Kerkour moved to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to study
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
at
Bard College
Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic ...
, but spent much of his time taking dance and acting classes instead.
He began pursuing an acting career at the encouragement of a university professor.
Career
In 2001, Kerkour played The Visitor in a production of the
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominated ...
play ''
Picasso at the Lapin Agile
''Picasso at the Lapin Agile'' is a full-length play written by American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician Steve Martin in 1993.
Description
The play features the characters of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, who meet at a bar ...
.'' Unable to obtain a visa to remain in the United States, Kerkour moved to England and continue his acting career.
He spent two years at the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
LAMDA's Principal is ...
, and five years with the
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...
.
Kerkour starred in the comedy-drama series ''
Home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
'', which debuted in March 2019 and lasted two series.
In the series, he played Sami Ibrahim, a
Syrian
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...
who moves in with a middle-class English family. The role was based on the experiences of real-ife Syrian refugee
Hassan Akkad
Hassan Akkad () is a British writer, filmmaker and human rights activist originally from Syria.
Life Syria
He is originally from Damascus, and worked as an English teacher and photographer. In 2011, as protests in Syria against the government o ...
.
Kerkour had not expected to be cast as Sami, since it was such a departure from the typecast violent characters he would usually play.
In 2020, he said:
"I spent my life playing terrorists. That’s my USP, that's why I grew my beard. I'm a very big guy. I speak Arabic, so a big bearded Arabic man, there’s really one kind of part, traditionally. laying
Laying is the act of making equipment level. It usually involves moving equipment in small motions so that spirit levels are centralised in all planes. Movement is usually done by small worm gears or other fine setting devices for accurate sma ...
Sami is the first time somebody has taken the chance and given me something more."
For his role as Sami, Kerkour was nominated for
Best Male Comedy Performance at the
2020 British Academy Television Awards
The 2020 British Academy Television Awards were held on 31 July 2020, hosted by British director and comic actor Richard Ayoade.
The nominations for the jury awards were announced on 4 June 2020, whilst the nominees for the audience award, "Vir ...
, losing the award to
Jamie Demetriou
Jamie Demetriou (born November 1987) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Bus Rodent in ''Fleabag'' and for creating, co-writing, and starring in '' Stath Lets Flats''. For the latter, he won Best Male ...
(for ''
Stath Lets Flats
''Stath Lets Flats'' is a British sitcom created and co-written by Jamie Demetriou, which premiered on Channel 4 on 27 June 2018. The series stars Demetriou as an incompetent and socially inept British Greek-Cypriot man who only has his job at a ...
).'' Kerkour is slated to appear in a film adaptation of ''
The Alchemist
An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy.
Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to:
Books and stories
* ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho
* ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Ben ...
'', alongside
Sebastian de Souza
Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England and Wales, 1916–2005'' B100D is an English actor. He is best known for playing Matty Levan in the E4 (TV channel), E4 teen drama series ''Skins (TV seri ...
and
Tom Hollander
Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is an English actor. As a child Hollander trained with the National Youth Theatre and was later involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Soci ...
.
In 2021, Kerkour starred in Ridley Scott film ''
House of Gucci
''House of Gucci'' is a 2021 American biographical crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott, based on the 2001 book ''The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed'' by Sara Gay Forden. The film follows Patriz ...
'', playing the role of
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmens (also spelled as Turkoman and Turcoman; tr, Irak Türkmenleri), also referred to as Iraqi Turks, Turkish-Iraqis, the Turkish minority in Iraq, and the Iraqi-Turkish minority ( ar, تركمان العراق; tr, Irak Türkleri ...
financier
Nemir Kirdar
Nemir Amin Kirdar (28 October 1936 – 8 June 2020) was an Iraqi Turkmen banker, billionaire, businessman, financier and author. As a founding father of private equity, and an economic and cultural bridge-builder, he was the founder and CEO of ...
. He is also set to appear in Scott's upcoming Napoleon Bonaparte drama ''
Kitbag
Kitbag Ltd. is a England sports retailer.
The company was purchased by Fanatics, Inc. from Findel PLC in February 2016 for £11.5M, previously the company was purchased by Findel PLC in October 2006 from European Home Retail plc.
Stores
...
,'' alongside
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...
.
Personal life
As of 2021, Kerkour is married and has a two-year-old daughter.
He has lived in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
for two decades, and describes himself as a "notorious
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
drinker" in the cafes of
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerkour, Youssef
Living people
Moroccan actors
British actors
Year of birth missing (living people)