Fares Fares

Fares Fares (; ; born 29 April 1973) is a Swedish actor, producer, and director. He is known for his collaborations with director Tarik Saleh, as well as his roles in notable shows such as ''Chernobyl'' ''and The Wheel of Time''. Fares has received various accolades, including a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and two Robert Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Early life

Fares was born on 29 April 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon to a family of Assyrian origin. His younger brother is director Josef Fares, and he has four sisters. In 1987, when Fares was 14 years old, his family moved to Sweden, residing in Örebro. They moved to escape the Lebanese Civil War and chose Sweden because they had relatives who had already lived there. Fares says he learned Swedish within three months of living in Sweden.

From the age of 15, Fares acted in a local theater group in Örebro. When he was 19, he attended drama school in Mölnlycke near Gothenburg, Sweden. He spent six years working in the Theatre Tamauer.

Career

Film

Fares has played major parts in films directed by his brother, Josef Fares. He debuted in ''Jalla! Jalla!'' (2000) and ''Kopps'' (2003). He starred in '' Bang Bang Orangutang'' (2005) and '' Kill Your Darlings'' (2006).

In 2010, Fares starred in the Swedish crime thriller ''Easy Money'' with Joel Kinnaman. The film was critically acclaimed and was picked up for American distribution by Harvey Weinstein.

In 2012, Fares made his Hollywood debut in the Denzel Washington movie ''Safe House.'' He played American CIA officer Hakim in ''Zero Dark Thirty'' (2012). Fares had a role in ''Child 44'' (2014) with Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman. Fares played Senator Vaspar in the ''Star Wars'' franchise movie '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016).

For ''The Keeper of Lost Causes'' (2013), which was set in Denmark, Fares learned to speak Danish in two months. The ''Keeper of Lost Causes'' was Denmark's top film of 2013. The film is based on a novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen It is the first of ten features based on his ''Department Q'' novels. Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas appeared in the first four films, produced by Zentropa.

Fares is partially known for his long-standing collaborative relationship with director Tarik Saleh, most famously starring in his Cairo trilogy, consisting of ''The Nile Hilton Incident'' (2017), ''Boy from Heaven'' (2022), and '' Eagles of the Republic'' (2025). Each film examines and criticizes the political corruption within Egypt at different levels during different periods, with Fares' characters at the center of pivotal events or circumstances. He has also had minor roles in the director's other films ''The Contractor'' (2022) and ''Metropia'' (2009), as well as various music videos he's directed for Lykke Li.

In 2020, Fares made his producing debut with the miniseries ''Partisan''. A few years later, in 2023, he made his directorial debut with the Netflix film ''A Day and a Half'', which was loosely inspired by a real story

Television

In 2014, Fares portrayed Fauzi Nadal in the TV show ''Tyrant'' on the FX Network. ''Tyrant'' was renewed for a second season, which began airing in the summer of 2015, and a third season in summer 2016. From 2018 to 2019, Fares appeared in the two HBO series ''Westworld'' and ''Chernobyl''. He portrayed the Forsaken Ishamael in ''The Wheel of Time'' in 2021, 2023 and 2025. In 2024, he appeared in the recurring role of Ruggiero in Netflix's ''The Decameron''.

Theater

* 1996: Samuel Beckett's ''I väntan på Godot (Waiting for Godot)'' at Teater Tamauer, Sweden
* 2000: ''Dom'', directed by Jasenko Selimovic, with Torkel Petersson, at the Gothenburg City Theatre (Göteborgs Stadsteater), Gothenburg, Sweden
* 2000: ''Natten före skogarna'' at Teater Tamauer, Sweden
* 2001: ''Tillbaka till öknen'' at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden
* 2002: ''Köket'' at the Gothenburg City Theatre, Gothenburg, Sweden
* 2003: ''Brott, hemtjänst, straffpengar, pensionärsmord'' at Backstage, Sweden
* 2003: ''Den arabiska natten'' at Backstage, Sweden

Other work

* 2004: Fares and his brother Josef voice acted in the Swedish dub of Shark Tale
* Fares appears in two music videos for Lykke Li; 2011 single, "I Follow Rivers", directed by Tarik Saleh and 2014 album teaser, "I Never Learn"
* Appeared in Daniel Lemma's music video "If I Used To Love You" with Torkel Petersson
* 2011: TV commercial for Tanqueray "Tonight We Tanqueray" — the bartender
* 2012: Short film, sponsored by Maiyet called ''Sleepwalking In the Rift,'' directed by Cary Fukunaga
* 2018: Voice acted in the video game '' A Way Out'' — Leo Caruso
* 2021: Additional voices for ''It Takes Two''
* 2022: TV commercial for Volvo "The Parents" — the father
* 2025: Additional voices for ''Split Fiction''

Personal life

Fares has stated that he spends time in Stockholm and Los Angeles.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fares, Fares
1973 births
20th-century Swedish male actors
21st-century Swedish male actors
Assyrian actors
Best Actor Guldbagge Award winners
Lebanese emigrants to Sweden
Living people
Male actors from Beirut
Swedish male film actors
Swedish male television actors
Swedish people of Assyrian descent