Zayn Alexander is a Lebanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and actor based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is known for his work on the short films ''

Abroad ''Abroad'' ( ar, الغربة) is a short film directed by Lebanese filmmaker Zayn Alexander. The film made its world premiere at the 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 2, 2018. The Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebane ...

'' and '' Manara''.

Life and career

Alexander was born and raised in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Alexander studied psychology at the

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

and left for 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 pursue acting in 2010. In New York City, he met fellow actor, Pascale Seigneurie, who would soon become a frequent collaborator. The two paired up to create ''

'', a film about a Lebanese couple pursuing their acting dreams in America and struggling with being

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

ern roles. Seigneurie wrote the short film, Alexander directed. The film was shot in one day. It debuted at the

Santa Barbara International Film Festival The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is an eleven-day film festival held in Santa Barbara, California since 1986. The festival boasts screenings of over 200 feature films and shorts from different countries and regions. SBIFF al ...

in 2018. The Moise A. Khayrallah Center has awarded Alexander and ''Abroad'' The 2020 Khayrallah Art Prize. In 2019, Alexander and Seigneurie followed up with '' Manara'', a short film about a Lebanese funeral and a family coping with the cultural pressures of Lebanese society. ''Manara'' was filmed in

Tyre, Lebanon Tyre (; ar, صور, translit=Ṣūr; phn, 𐤑𐤓, translit=Ṣūr, Greek language, Greek ''Tyros'', Τύρος) is a city in Lebanon, one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continually inhabited cities in the world, t ...

. It debuted during the

76th Venice International Film Festival The 76th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2019. Film director Lucrecia Martel was appointed as the President of the Jury. ''The Truth'', directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, was selected to open the fest ...

in September 2019.

Filmography

References

External links

*Zayn Alexande
Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Zayn Living people Lebanese film directors Lebanese male film actors American University of Beirut alumni Year of birth missing (living people)