Zain Al Rafeea ( ar, زين الرافعي, born 10 October 2004) is a Syrian-born Norwegian actor. He is best known for his starring role in the 2018 Lebanese film ''

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; he, כְּפַר נַחוּם, Kfar Naḥum, Nahum's village; ar, كفر ناحوم, Kafr Nāḥūm) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It ...

'', which won the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England duri ...

at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

Life and career

Al Rafeea was born in

Daraa Daraa ( ar, دَرْعَا, Darʿā, Levantine Arabic: , also Darʿā, Dara’a, Deraa, Dera'a, Dera, Derʿā and Edrei; means "''fortress''", compare Dura-Europos) is a city in southwestern Syria, located about north of the border with Jord ...

, Syria in 2004 before his family moved to Lebanon in 2012. A Syrian refugee, he grew up in the slums of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

with his parents. He was 12 and illiterate during the production of ''Capernaum''. He was not trained as an actor. Al Rafeea's ''Capernaum'' character, Zain, is named after him. In November 2018, director

Nadine Labaki Nadine Labaki ( ar, نادين لبكي ''Nādīn Labikī''; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after ...

reported Al Rafeea's situation had changed: Al Rafeea began attending school in

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hammerf ...

. For ''Capernaum'', Al Rafeea was nominated for the

Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor The Asia Pacific Screen Award The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO, UNESCO's goals of promoting an ...

. He also won Best Actor at the 2018

International Antalya Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival ( tr, Antalya Altın Portakal Film Festivali), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most impor ...

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' named his as one of the best performances of 2018, with reporter Wesley Morris writing, "Every once in a while, you leave a movie having seen a performance that mocks all the other acting that came before it". James Verniere of the ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...

'' described Al Rafeea as "part Oliver Twist, part

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

". In 2021, he appeared as a villager in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...

(MCU) film '' Eternals''.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rafeea, Zain 2004 births 21st-century Syrian male actors Asian child actors Living people Male child actors Norwegian actors Refugees of the Syrian civil war Syrians in Lebanon Syrian emigrants to Norway