Sayyid El Alami

Sayyid El Alami was born in 1998^[1] in Toulouse and grew up in Colomiers.^[2] The son of Moroccan immigrant parents, he is the youngest of six siblings.^[3] He has credited his mother,^[4] Chafia,^[5] with instilling in him a passion for the art of cinema.^[4]

El Alami initially wanted to become a professional soccer player, but was soon discouraged by his parents. At the age of 12, he took his first acting lessons at the Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture in his neighborhood.^[3] After finishing high school, El Alami moved to Paris and signed up for 1000 Visages, an organization founded by actress Houda Benyamina aimed at making the film industry more accessible.^[2]

El Alami made his feature film debut in a minor role in the 2018 dramedy Mr. Know-It-All (Monsieur je-sais-tout),^[6] followed by appearances in the short films Basses by Félix Imbert, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Directors' Fortnight,^[7] Pas si loin by Thierry Préval,^[8] and 2 minutes 30 by Mehdi Fikri.^[9] In 2019, El Alami appeared in the drama Zombi Child directed by Bertrand Bonello.^[10]

After a long series of auditions,^[3] El Alami gained recognition in 2020 for his role in the Netflix thriller television series Messiah, created by Michael Petroni. He portrayed Jibril Medina, a Palestinian refugee who encounters a mysterious stranger perceived by some as the new Messiah.^[11] In 2021, El Alami starred in Al Hadi Ulad-Mohand's drama Life Suits Me Well,^[12] and appeared in a short film titled Les engloutis, directed by Caroline Guiela Nguyen.^[13] He also made a guest appearance in the first episode of the second season of the British drama television series Baptiste.^[14]

In January 2022, El Alami starred in the TV mini-series Une si longue nuit, a TF1 remake of the police procedural crime drama television series Criminal Minds. He played Sami, a student from Marseille who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman following a night of heavy drinking.^[3][4] That same month, he appeared as Cédric in a guest role during the seventh episode of the second season of the Canal+ television series Narvalo.^[15] In May of the same year, El Alami starred in Paul Doucet's action thriller The Pilot (Pilote).^[16]

He also starred as the titular character in the historical drama miniseries Oussekine, which centers on the 1986 murder of student Malik Oussekine by French police. Director Antoine Chevrollier selected El Alami for the role due to his modernity and political awareness.^[17] In his final performance of 2022, he appeared in Hakim Mao's short film Idiot Fish.^[18] El Alami had a supporting role in Lisa Azuelos' 2023 drama The Book of Wonders (La Chambre des merveilles).^[19]

In 2024, he appeared in a minor role in the British television limited series A Gentleman in Moscow, based on the 2016 novel by Amor Towles.^[20] El Alami collaborated again with Antoine Chevrollier in his feature film directorial debut, Block Pass (La Pampa),^[2] which premiered during the Critics' Week program at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.^[21] He also starred alongside Paul Kircher in Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma's coming-of-age And Their Children After Them (Leurs enfants après eux). The film had its world premiere at the 81st Venice Film Festival.^[22] For his portrayal of Hacine,^[23] El Alami earned his first nomination for the Lumière Award for Best Male Revelation.^[24]

In January 2025, El Alami was named one of Unifrance's 10 new French talents to follow.^[25] He will star next in Thomas Vernay's Fief, an adaptation of the novel by David Lopez, and in a project directed by Ismael El Iraki.^[26]