Fayssal Bazzi

Fayssal Bazzi (; born 1982) is a Lebanese-Australian actor. He was nominated for the 2018 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in The Merger and again in 2020 for Measure for Measure.

Early life Bazzi was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to a Lebanese father and a Syrian mother. As his mother was a French teacher, Bazzi learned to speak French fluently alongside Arabic. When he was 3 years old, his family moved to Australia after the Lebanese Civil War.

When immigrating to Australia, the Bazzis lost their immigration records. Bazzi was often bullied as a child as he did not initially speak English. His parents transferred him to a Catholic school, and he eventually learned English after a teacher decided to personally teach him. He was inspired to become an actor by that teacher.

Career Bazzi started his acting career in his early 20s, in the early 2000s. As a child he was a fan of Star Wars and anime, so he was keen to work in the fantasy genre, however in the aftermath of 9/11 he found that he was pigeonholed as an Arab man, in terms of the way the industry viewed him.

His career began in theatre. After securing an agent, Bazzi started attending screen auditions in the early to mid-2000s, but based on the amount of rejection he experienced based on his ethnic background, he realised the theatre culture was more progressive than screen, allowing him a lot more casting scope and creative and cultural input. He continued to audition for screen roles regardless, and started to be cast in guest roles.

While touring Australia with a play called Food, Bazzi secured a part on the film Down Under – a black comedy based on the racial tensions in the wake of the real-life 2005 Cronulla riots. He starred alongside Alexander England, Damon Herriman, Justin Rosniak and Lincoln Younes.

After a decade of guest roles, supporting roles, and short films, Bazzi performed as part of a six month national tour of The Merchant of Venice with Bell Shakespeare, before finishing the tour early to film his first lead role in 2018 drama comedy movie The Merger.

Prior to leaving on a holiday, Bazzi auditioned for the recurring role of Nasir in season 2 of comedy drama series Mr Inbetween, and for a lead role as Ameer, a Syrian refugee in 2020 miniseries Stateless, both of which he secured and started filming on his return. In the latter series, he starred opposite Cate Blanchett, Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Dominic West and Asher Keddie, and had to learn to speak Dari, an Afghan language. He was then was offered a part on The Commons, before having to fly to Timor-Leste to finish filming overseas scenes for Stateless.

In 2023, Bazzi was announced and appeared in several television projects including SBS' Erotic Stories, Total Control final season, and the second season of Australian legal drama The Twelve. He also appeared in Australian/American co-produced horror film Late Night with the Devil. He was then named for legal thriller The Correspondent.

Personal life Bazzi has been in a relationship with fellow Australian actor Catherine Văn-Davies since 2014.

Filmography

Television

Film/Shorts

Theatre

As actor YearTitleRoleNotes 2004 Instant Karma Joe Inkle Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney 2004 This Blasted Earth / A Christmas Miracle With Music John Lafayette Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney with Tamarama Rock Surfers Love, Madness & Poetry 2005 The Savage Parade Death Red Star Dog Fish Productions 2005 Queen Lear Gower CUT Theatre 2005 The Key to the Mystic Halls of Time Newtown Theatre, Sydney with Short+Sweet 2005 To the Green Fields Beyond Lion Tamarama Rock Surfers 2005 Cross Sections Connor / Mohammad Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney, Sydney Opera House 2006 Lord of the Flies Bill Stables Theatre, Sydney 2007 Verbatim Newtown Theatre, Sydney with Fuzzbusters & Short+Sweet 2008 All the Blood and All the Water Angel Casula Powerhouse, Lennox Theatre, Parramatta with Riverside Productions 2008 Poster Girl Prakash Larda Old Fitzroy Theatre, Sydney with Tamarama Rock Surfers 2009 Don Juan in Soho Pete / Vagabomd New Theatre, Sydney 2010 The Pigeons Dr Erich Asendorf Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company 2010; 2011 Woyzeck Andres Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, Sue Benner Theatre, Brisbane 2010 Redemption Quill Drama Queen / Different Corner 2011 Sprout John Tamarama Rock Surfers 2011 I Only Came to Use the Phone Herculina Darlinghurst Theatre, Sydney 2011 K.I.J.E. Konrad Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo with Tamarama Rock Surfers 2012; 2013; 2014 Food Hakan Australian national tour with Force Majeure 2013 The Other Way David with STC 2013 The Motherf**cker with the Hat Adam Mitchell Studio Underground, Perth with Black Swan Theatre Company 2013 A Beautiful Lie Ahmad Riverside Theatres Parramatta 2013 Empire: Terror on the High Seas Bondi Pavilion, Sydney with Tamarama Rock Surfers 2014 The Government Inspector Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne 2014 Dust Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth 2015 Timeshare Gary / Juan Fernando Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne 2015 Ivanov Borkin Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney 2016 Back at the Dojo Jerry Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney 2017 The Merchant of Venice Gratiano Australian national tour with Bell Shakespeare 2018 Sami in Paradise Abu Walid Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney (also adaptor) 2018 Good Cook. Friendly. Clean. Character B Stables Theatre, Sydney with Griffin Theatre Company 2018 Blasted The Soldier Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne 2019 Mary Stuart Mortimer Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney with STC 2020 The Deep Blue Sea Freddie Page Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney with STC 2021 Queen Fatima Gada National Theatre of Parramatta, Sydney Festival 2024 Much Ado About Nothing Benedick MTC

As crew YearTitleRoleNotes 2006 Pork Director Newtown Theatre, Sydney with Short+Sweet 2018 Sami in Paradise Adaptor Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney 2019; 2011 The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race Dialect coach Ensemble Theatre, Sydney & regional tour