Tahar Rahim

Rahim was born in Belfort, France, to a family from Oran, Algeria.^[1]

After earning a Baccalauréat at the Lycée Condorcet of Belfort, Rahim enrolled first in sports and then computer science programmes. After two subsequent years of boredom studying the subjects in Strasbourg and Marseille, Rahim decided to pursue his passion and began to study film at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier. His life as a film student was chronicled in a docufiction by fellow Belfortain Cyril Mennegun titled "Tahar, student", aired on French TV channel France 5 in 2006.

Following this, Rahim moved to Paris in 2005 and studied drama at the Laboratoire de l'Acteur under Hélène Zidi-Chéruy while working in a factory during the week, and in a nightclub at weekends, to make ends meet.

In mid-2006, after signing with an agent, Rahim won a part in the hit Canal+ television series La Commune written by Abdel Raouf Dafri.

After a two-line appearance in the 2007 horror movie Inside starring Béatrice Dalle, he went through a gruelling three months of auditioning. After eight callbacks, he landed his breakthrough role.^[2][3]

Rahim also starred in Chinese director Lou Ye's film Love and Bruises. The controversial director had twice been banned by the Chinese government from making movies. The director likely met Rahim at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where they were presenting Spring Fever and A Prophet, respectively. Love and Bruises is the adaptation of the banned biography of Jie Liu Falin.

Rahim also starred in Free Men, the biopic about Si Kaddour Benghabrit, the French-Algerian diplomat founder of the Great Mosque of Paris, directed by Ismaël Ferroukhi of Le Grand Voyage fame.^[4]

In 2015, Rahim was selected to be on the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.^[5] He later starred in the European crime drama television series The Last Panthers.^[6]

In 2018, he appeared as Judas in the film Mary Magdalene, written by Helen Edmundson.^[7] In the U.S. that year, he had a starring role as FBI agent Ali Soufan in The Looming Tower miniseries.

In 2021, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying Mohamedou Ould Salahi in The Mauritanian, set among detainees at the US camp at Guantanamo.^[8] Rahim also served as a jury member at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

Rahim played Paul Barras in Ridley Scott's Napoleon (2023), starring Joaquin Phoenix, for Apple TV+.^[9] He played Ezekiel Sims in Sony's Spider-Man Universe film Madame Web.^[10]

In 2023, Rahim was announced to be playing French singer Charles Aznavour in the biopic film Monsieur Aznavour.^[11] It premiered in late 2024, for his performance Rahim received his second César Award for Best Actor nomination.

In 2025, Rahim starred as Amin in Alpha by Julia Ducournau. For the role, Rahim lost 20 kilograms, creating a media uproar in France during the release of Monsieur Aznavour.^[12][13]

Rahim is married to French actress Leïla Bekhti, whom he met while filming A Prophet in 2007. Together they have four children.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

In June 2024, Rahim signed a petition alongside 230 French artists addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron demanding the France government to officially recognize the State of Palestine.^[19]

• 2007 – 2008: Libres sont les papillons in the role of the blind character Benjamin. The play was an adaption from its original English into French of Butterflies are free written by Leonard Gershe by Hélène Zidi-Chéruy who also directed and staged it at the Côté Court Theater, 11th arrondissement of Paris.