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. 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. Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas appeared in the first four of these films, produced by Zentropa. Their roles were later recast when the film rights were sold to Nordisk Film. 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 A Day and a Half, a Netflix original film 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

Video games