Marwan Kenzari

Marwan Kenzari is a Dutch actor of Tunisian descent. Starting his career in 2008, he first came to prominence for his role in the 2013 film Wolf, which earned him a Golden Calf award for Best Actor. Since 2016, he has been portraying roles in English-language films, including Aladdin, The Old Guard (2020) and Black Adam (2022), which earned him international recognition.

Early life and education Kenzari was born in The Hague, Netherlands, to a Tunisian family. His father was a construction worker, while his mother was a housewife. After graduation he was recruited by the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, which allowed him to tour in Moscow, London, Vienna and New York City with the group.

Career 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). 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. His performance in the film was well received by critics, with Variety naming him an "International Star You Should Know". In 2014, Kenzari won a Shooting Stars Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2019, Kenzari played villain Jafar in Disney's live-action adaptation of Aladdin. He gained international recognition after portraying the role with mainstream media giving him the nickname "hot Jafar". In July 2020, Kenzari appeared in The Old Guard as one of the film's protagonists. Also in the same year, he starred as the controversial Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officer Raymond Westerling in the film The East, which was released on Amazon Prime Video.

In February 2021, Kenzari was cast to portray Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac in the 2022 film Black Adam. He has a minor role in the second season of the Netflix series The Night Agent, released January 2025.

Personal life Kenzari speaks Arabic, Dutch, English and French.

Filmography Film +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released

Year Title Role Note 2008 Katia's Sister Giac 2009 The Last Days of Emma Blank Martin 2010 Loft Tom Fenneker 2011 Rabat Zakaria 2012 Black Out Youssef 2013 Wolf Majid Zamari 2014 Hartenstraat Daan Accused Det. Ron Leeflang Reckless Rico Gift from the Heart Richard 2016 Collide Matthias Ben-Hur Druses The Promise Emre Ogan 2017 The Mummy Malik What Happened to Monday Adrian Knowles Murder on the Orient Express Pierre Michel 2018 The Angel Ashraf Marwan 2019 Aladdin Jafar Instinct Idris 2020 The Old Guard Yusuf Al-Kaysani / Joe De Oost Raymond Westerling 2022 Black Adam Ishmael Gregor / Sabbac 2023 Ghosted Marco 2024 The Return Antinous 2025 The Old Guard 2 Yusuf Al-Kaysani / Joe TBA Any Other Night Max Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 2008–2010 Flikken Maastricht Luca de Keyzer 7 episodes 2009 Maite was hier Vuc Television film 2012 Godforsaken Frank Hendrikx 1 episode 2012–2013 Penoza Mustafa 8 episodes 2025 The Night Agent Sami Saidi 4 episodes

Awards and nominations