Samir Guesmi

Samir Guesmi (born 7 October 1967) is a French actor of stage and screen and film director. He is known for his television roles in Spiral and The Returned (2012-15).

Early life and education Samir Guesmi was born in Paris, France, in on 7 October 1967, His father was a construction worker and his mother a childcare worker, and he had eight siblings. He is of North African (Algerian? As a young man, he joined Studio Pygmalion, and then Tania Balachova's Theatre School, and undertook many stage performances. In 2003 (often cited as 2005) he appeared in Mathieu Vadepied's short film Le Souffle.

His performances in mainstream movies include La Mentale /The Code (2002) by Manuel Boursinhac; Banlieue 13 (2004) by Pierre Morel; Ne le dis à personne / Tell No One (2006) by Guillaume Canet.

For his performance in Alain Gomis' feature Andalucía, in his first major role, including the Be TV award at the Brussels Short Film Festival, and the Special Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, at the 38th Molodist International Film Festival in Kyiv in 2008, second place at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the 2008 Grand Prix Award at the Grenoble Outdoor Short Film Festival . and won four awards at the 2020 Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, including Best Film and Best Direction.

In 2021, he played Fouad in the Moroccan film Life Suits Me Well (La vie me va bien), the directorial feature film of Al Hadi Ulad-Mohand. Guesmi was nominated for Best Actor in the Critics' Awards for Arab Films in 2022.

In 2022, he starred alongside Thomas Ngijol as his brother, Lucien, in Fratè, which was filmed in Corsica. In the same year, he starred in (Our Brothers), which was written, directed, and produced by Rachid Bouchareb. The film is about the death of two young men in France in the 1980s at the hands of police, referencing the killing of Malik Oussekine in 1986, and was selected as the official Algerian entry to the Oscars.

Selected filmography

Actor Year Title Role Director Notes 1988 Jaune revolver Khadour 1991 Noir dessin Karim Jean Heches Short 1992 Savage Nights Jamel Cyril Collard IP5 : L'île aux pachydermes Saddam Jean-Jacques Beineix 1993 Navarro Hocine Patrick Jamain TV series (1 episode) 1994 Les mickeys Thomas Vincent Short Le clandestin Ahmed Jean-Louis Bertucelli TV movie Julie Lescaut Slimane Élisabeth Rappeneau TV series (1 episode) 1995 Élisa Jean Becker Fast Jocelyn Dante Desarthe Paul Bowles - Halbmond Lahcen Frieder Schlaich & Irene von Alberti La vie parisienne Hélène Angel Short Des hommes avec des bas Pascal Chaumeil Short Le parasite The vigil Patrick Dewolf TV movie Lulu roi de France Sami Bernard Uzan TV movie Le serment d'Hippocrate Jean-Louis Bertucelli TV movie 1996 Malik le maudit Malik Youcef Hamidi Amiens International Film Festival - Best Actor Des lendemains qui chantent Caroline Chomienne Le mur Farid David Oelhoffen Short 1997 Les Soeurs Soleil The arab Jeannot Szwarc XXL Delivery man Ariel Zeitoun Autre chose à foutre qu'aimer Hamed Carole Giacobbi Adios ! Raoul #1 Nicolas Joffrin Big Bang The reader David Oelhoffen Short Seule Erick Zonca Short L'amour à l'ombre Nordine Philippe Venault TV movie Mauvaises affaires Karim Jean-Louis Bertucelli TV movie La bastide blanche Nordine Miguel Courtois TV mini-series Regards d'enfance The supervisor Emmanuel Finkiel TV series (1 episode) 1998 J'aimerais pas crever un dimanche Mako Didier Le Pêcheur 1999 Our Happy Lives Rachid Jacques Maillot Un pur moment de rock'n roll Inspector Choukri Manuel Boursinhac Le sourire du clown The unemployed Éric Besnard Le voyage à Paris Marc-Henri Dufresne Les vilains Rachid Xavier Durringer TV movie 2000 La taule The cook Alain Robak Cours toujours Taxi driver Dante Desarthe Du poil sous les roses The gynecologist Jean-Julien Chervier & Agnès Obadia C.D.D. 267 Olivier Loustau Short Mix-cité Djamel Christophe Leprêtre TV movie Anna en Corse Hamed Carole Giacobbi TV movie Drug Scenes Party guest Guillaume Nicloux TV series (1 episode) 2001 Alias Betty (Betty Fisher et autres histoires) Inspector Claude Miller Khalid Alain Gomis J'ai tué Clémence Acéra Louis Ben Saïd Jean-Luc Gaget En mon absence David Oelhoffen Short L'attaque du camion de glaces Claude Brice Ansel Short Docteur Sylvestre Olivier Jean-Louis Bertucelli TV series (1 episode) 2002 Aram Saad Robert Kechichian The Code (La Mentale) Daniel Manuel Boursinhac 2003 Qui perd gagne ! Albert Laurent Bénégui Violence des échanges en milieu tempéré Adji Zerouane Jean-Marc Moutout Une grande fille comme toi Akim Christophe Blanc & Mercedes Cecchetto TV movie 2004 District 13 (Banlieue 13) Jamel Pierre Morel RRRrrrr!!! Trapper 2 Alain Chabat Look at Me The onlooker 2 Agnès Jaoui Destination Nabil Fabrice Camoin Short Echafaudages The director David Oelhoffen Short 2005 Anthony Zimmer Lt. Camel Driss Jérôme Salle Akoibon Friend 1 Édouard Baer Ze film Marco Guy Jacques Le souffle The young father Mathieu Vadepied Short Don Quichotte Ricote Jacques Deschamps TV movie Docteur Dassin, généraliste Rémi Alkoni Olivier Langlois TV series (1 episode) 2006 Charlie Says Mo Nicole Garcia Tell No One Lieutenant Saraoui Guillaume Canet The Colonel Ali Laurent Herbiet Ahmed Ahmed Alain Gomis Short Le Mozart des pickpockets Ahmed Philippe Pollet-Villard Short Mentir un peu Agnès Obadia TV movie 2007 Trivial Medical student Sophie Marceau Anna M. The receptionist Michel Spinosa Andalucia Yacine Alain Gomis Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur - Best Actor Ravages Malek Christophe Lamotte TV movie 2008 Ca$h Fred Éric Besnard Passe-passe The nurse Tonie Marshall A Christmas Tale Spatafora Arnaud Desplechin A Day at the Museum A guardian Jean-Michel Ribes Leur morale... et la nôtre Boualem Malik Florence Quentin L'autre rive Nabil Fabrice Camoin Short Rien dans les poches Nader Marion Vernoux TV movie Spiral Farouk Larbi Philippe Triboit & Philippe Venault TV series (3 episodes) 2009 Park Benches Romain Bruno Podalydès All About Actresses Jennifer's husband Maïwenn I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive The employer Nathan & Claude Miller Quand la ville mord Tramson Dominique Cabrera TV movie 2010 Outside the Law Otmani Rachid Bouchareb A Few Days of Respite Hassan Amor Hakkar L'Avocat Ben Corey Cédric Anger En chantier, monsieur Tanner ! Khaled Stefan Liberski TV movie 2011 The Woman in the Fifth Sezer Paweł Pawlikowski My Worst Nightmare The DDASS Inspector Anne Fontaine Au cas où je n'aurais pas la palme d'or Yossef Renaud Cohen 2012 Camille Rewinds (Camille redouble) Éric Noémie Lvovsky Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actor Pirate TV Bébé Michel Leclerc Granny's Funeral Haroun Bruno Podalydès Cherry on the Cake Maxime Laura Morante Queen of Montreuil Samir Sólveig Anspach Frank-Étienne vers la béatitude Serge Bercot Constance Meyer Short 2012-15 The Returned (Les Revenants) Thomas Mézache Fabrice Gobert, Frédéric Mermoud... TV series (10 episodes) 2013 Gare du Nord Julien Claire Simon Je suis supporter du Standard Lakdar Riton Liebman 2014 Brèves de comptoir Couss Jean-Michel Ribes Poisson Karim Aurélien Vernhes-Lermusiaux Short 2015 The Transporter Refueled Inspector Bectaoui Camille Delamarre The Sweet Escape The delivery guy Bruno Podalydès Belle gueule The father Emma Benestan Short Les mâles ne vivent pas Philippe Matthieu Salmon Short Nina Ali Éric Le Roux TV series (1 episode) 2016 The Aquatic Effect Samir Sólveig Anspach The Young One José Géraud Julien Samani Ma révolution Moncef Ramzi Ben Sliman D'une pierre deux coups Hedi Fejria Deliba Première séance Ivan Jonathan Borgel Short 2017 Ismael's Ghosts Doctor Arnaud Desplechin I Got Life! The trainer Blandine Lenoir La mélodie Farid Brahimi Rachid Hami La bête curieuse Idir Laurent Perreau TV movie 2018 La dernière folie de Claire Darling Amir Julie Bertuccelli Tout ce qu'il me reste de la révolution Emmanuel Judith Davis Ben Laurent Wagner Akim Isker TV series (6 episodes) 2019 Notre dame Greg Valérie Donzelli 2021 Life Suits Me Well (La vie me va bien) Fouad Al Hadi Ulad-Mohand Nominated, Best Actor, Critics' Awards for Arab Films 20222022 That Kind of Summer Sami Denis Côté For My Country Adil Rachid Hami (Our Brothers) Ouassini Benyahia Rachid Bouchareb 2025 The Cost of Heaven Nacer Belkacem Mathieu Denis The Site Saïd Akihiro Hata

Filmmaker Year Title Role Notes 2008 C'est dimanche! Director & writer ShortAudience Award,Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film FestivalMultiple other nominations and wins

Theatre

Year Title Author Director 1991 Les mariés de la tour Eiffel Jean Cocteau Olivier Mothes 1994-95 Tue la mort Tom Murphy Bernard Bloch 2002 Une nuit arabe Roland Schimmelpfennig 2003 Cinq Hommes Daniel Keene Stéphane Müh 2008 Othello William Shakespeare Éric Vigner La Ronde Arthur Schnitzler Frédéric Bélier-Garcia 2013-14 Perplexe Marius von Mayenburg Frédéric Bélier-Garcia

Footnotes