Norman Briski

Naum Briski (born 2 January 1938), better known as Norman Briski, is an Argentine actor, director and playwright.

Life and work

Naum Briski was born on 2 January 1938 in Santa Fe. His Jewish Argentine family relocated to Córdoba, where Briski developed an interest in acting and where, in 1955, he was given his first stage role in La Farsa del señor Corregidor. He continued his work in the theatre and in time earned leading parts in plays such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and The Mother. He was given his first cinema role, a part in Ricardo Alventosa's comedy, Cómo seducir a una mujer (How to Seduce a Woman), in 1967.

Remaining active in the local theatre, Briski established an independent theatre company, Octubre, in the early 1970s, and devoted its repertoire to the production of classics banned in Argentina at the time (such as Oedipus Rex). A left-wing Peronist, he received death threats from the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance, a paramilitary group active in the mid-1970s, and left for Spain in 1975. More recent dramatic roles include that of the doomed Dr. Feldman in the 2004 cable mystery series, Epitafios, and as Macías Moll, an elderly clock repairman longing for lost youth in Marcos Rodríguez's Los chicos desaparecen (2008).

In October 2024, during the Martín Fierro Film Awards, Briski delivered a poignant speech expressing solidarity with the Palestinians. Upon receiving his award, he declared in his speech, "Gaza, Gaza, Gaza. Gaza will never be defeated. It doesn’t matter if you applaud me a lot or a little, but I feel here in my blood, in my ancestors, my solidarity with a people who are being murdered.” In a subsequent interview, Briski elaborated on his stance, emphasizing that those who fight for freedom today “must be Palestinians” and drawing connections between anti-imperialist struggles in Latin America and the Palestinian resistance. He stated, “A true Jew will defend the Palestinian people in their pursuit of peace and harmony—a coexistence between two peoples who have historically lived together and enriched each other’s cultures.”