Marwan Kenzari

Kenzari was born on 17 January 1983 in The Hague, Netherlands, to a Tunisian family. His father was a construction worker, while his mother was a housewife.^[1] As a teenager he was mainly interested in football before a girl he was seeing signed them up to audition for the Dutch version of the musical Chicago.^[1][2] In 2009, Kenzari graduated at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts.^[3] After graduation he was recruited by the Toneelgroep Amsterdam,^[4] which allowed him to tour in Moscow, London, Vienna and New York City with the group.^[5]

Kenzari has acted in films and TV series in his native Dutch since 2008. In 2013, he won a Golden Calf for Best Actor at the Netherlands Film Festival for his role in the feature film Wolf (2013).^[6] He trained for over a year to play the role of kickboxer Majid. With his toned body, he was also featured on the cover of Dutch Men's Health in 2013.^[7] His performance in the film was well received by critics, with Variety naming him an "International Star You Should Know".^[2] In 2014, Kenzari won a Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[8]

In 2016 he appeared in the English-language films Collide, Ben-Hur and The Promise, which resulted in The Hollywood Reporter naming him amongst their list of "15 International Breakout Talents of 2016".^[9] In 2019, Kenzari played villain Jafar in Disney's live-action adaptation of Aladdin.^[10][11] He gained international recognition after portraying the role with mainstream media giving him the nickname "hot Jafar".^[12] In July 2020, Kenzari appeared in The Old Guard as one of the film's protagonists.^[13] In February 2021, Kenzari was cast to portray Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac in the 2022 film Black Adam.^[14] He has a minor role in the second season of the Netflix series The Night Agent, released January 2025.^[15]

He starred as the controversial Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officer Raymond Westerling in the 2020 film The East, which was released on Amazon Prime Video.^[16][17]

Kenzari speaks Arabic, Dutch, English and French.^[18]