Image of Tahar Rahim

Tahar Rahim

Tahar Rahim (born 5 July 1981) is a French actor of Algerian origin. Born in Belfort, France, his family is originally from the region of Oran, Algeria. He is most notably known for his starring role as Malik El Djebena in the 2009 award-winning French movie A Prophet by Jacques Audiard. Rahim has demonstrated multilingual skills and an ear for accents, having played in Corsican and Arabic in addition to French in A Prophet, and in ancient Gaelic for his role as the seal prince in Kevin Macdonald's The Eagle. He says that he found refuge from the boredom of Belfort in cinema. Watching up to five movies a week during his youth, this habit that gave birth and fed his passion for the art. After earning a Baccalauréat at the Lycée Condorcet of Belfort, he enrolled first in Sports and then Computer Science programs. After two subsequent years of an unmotivated boredom with the subjects in Strasbourg and Marseille, Rahim decided to pursue his passion and began to study film at the Paul Valéry University of Montpellier. His life as a film student was chronicled in a documentary by Cyril Mennegun titled "Tahar, student", aired on French TV channel France 5 in 2006. Following this, Rahim moved to Paris in 2005 and studied drama at the Laboratoire de l'Acteur under Hélène Zidi-Chéruy while working in a factory during the week, and in a night club on weekends to make ends meet. In mid 2006, after signing with an agent, Rahim won a part in the hit Canal+ television series La Commune written by Abdel Raouf Dafri. Dafri penned the first draft of the script to A Prophet. Rahim then met Audiard when the two coincidentally shared a cab while the two were leaving a set. Tahar introduced himself saying that "I knew it was Audiard and I said I was a fan but I think I was a bit silly" and was afterward very surprised that Audiard remembered him enough to contact him about A Prophet. After a two-line appearance in 2008 horror movie Inside starring Béatrice Dalle, he went through a gruelling three months of auditioning. After eight callbacks, he landed his breakthrough role. Rahim is now set to star in controversial Chinese director Lou Ye's movie Bitch. The director, twice banned from making movies by the Chinese government, likely met Tahar at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where they were each presenting Spring Fever and A Prophet respectively. Bitch is the adaptation of the banned biography of Jie Liu Falin. Another project in the works is Des hommes libres (Free men), the biopic on Si Kaddour Benghabrit, founder of the Great Mosque of Paris, to be directed by Ismaël Ferroukhi of Le Grand Voyage fame.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
Jul 4, 1981 In Belfort, France
Movie/TV Credits:
38
First Appeared:
In the series Burger Quiz 2001-08-27
Latest Project:
Movie Monsieur Aznavour 2024-10-23
Known For
Poster of The Mauritanian
Poster of The Serpent
Poster of I Saved My Belly Dancer
Poster of Santa Claus
Filmography
Movie Monsieur Aznavour Charles Aznavour 2024-10-23
Movie Madame Web Ezekiel Sims 2024-02-14
Movie Napoleon Paul Barras 2023-11-22
Movie Don Juan Laurent 2022-05-23
Series The Serpent Charles Sobhraj 2021-01-01
Movie The Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Slahi 2021-02-12
Movie Jacques Audiard, le cinéma à cœur Self - Interviewee 2021-05-16
Series The Eddy Farid 2020-05-08
Movie The Kindness of Strangers Marc 2019-12-12
Movie Omar Sy, c'est ta chance Self 2018-11-21
Movie Mary Magdalene Judas 2018-03-15
Series The Looming Tower Ali Soufan 2018-02-28
Movie Treat Me Like Fire Abel 2018-07-04
Movie The Price of Success Brahim 2017-08-30
Movie I Saved My Belly Dancer 2016-02-03
Movie Heal the Living Thomas Rémige 2016-11-01
Movie Daguerrotype Jean 2016-10-15
Movie The Anarchists Jean Albertini 2015-11-11
Series The Last Panthers Khalil 2015-11-12
Movie Samba Walid aka Wilson 2014-10-15
Movie The Cut Nazaret Manoogian 2014-10-16
Movie Santa Claus Le Père Noël 2014-12-04
Movie The Past Samir 2013-05-17
Movie The Informant Redjani Belimane 2013-09-11
Movie Grand Central Gary 2013-08-28
Movie Our Children Mounir 2012-05-30
Series Bref Tahar Rahim 2011-08-29
Movie The Eagle Seal Prince 2011-02-08
Movie Free Men Younes 2011-09-28
Movie Love and Bruises Mathieu 2011-09-01
Movie Black Gold Auda 2011-12-21
Movie Behind Bars Self 2010-02-17
Movie Les Révélations 2010 2010-01-07
Movie You Never Left 2010-12-10
Movie A Prophet Malik El Djebena 2009-08-26
Movie Inside Policier municipal 1 2007-06-13
Series La Commune Yazid Fikry 2007-11-26
Series Burger Quiz Unknown 2001-08-27