# Fares Fares

Fares Fares (Swedish pronunciation: ; Arabic: فارس فارس; born 29 April 1973) is a Swedish actor, producer, and director. He is known for his collaborations with Swedish director Tarik Saleh in The Nile Hilton Incident (2017) and Boy from Heaven (2022). He has received various accolades, including a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role and two Robert Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Fares is also known for his performances in Jalla! Jalla! (2000), Days Like This (2001), Zero Dark Thirty, Safe House and Easy Money II: Hard to Kill (all 2012), The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013), The Absent One (2014), The Commune and A Conspiracy of Faith (both 2016), Westworld (2018), Chernobyl (2019) and The Wheel of Time (2021-2023).

## Early life

Fares was born on 29 April 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon to a family of Assyrian origin. His younger brother is director Josef Fares, and he has four sisters. In 1987, when Fares was 14 years old, his family moved to Sweden, residing in Örebro. They moved to escape the Lebanese Civil War and chose Sweden because they had relatives who had already lived there. Fares says he learned Swedish within three months of living in Sweden.
From the age of 15, Fares acted in a local theater group in Örebro. When he was 19, he attended drama school in Mölnlycke near Gothenburg, Sweden. He spent six years working in the Theatre Tamauer.

## Career
### Film

Fares has played major parts in his brother, director Josef Fares' films, including his debut acting performance in 2000's Jalla! Jalla! and 2003's Kopps. He starred in Bang Bang Orangutang (2005) and Kill Your Darlings (2006).
In 2010, Fares starred in the Swedish crime thriller Easy Money with Joel Kinnaman. The film was critically acclaimed and was picked up for American distribution by Harvey Weinstein. In 2012, Fares made his Hollywood debut in the Denzel Washington movie Safe House. He played CIA officer Hakim in Zero Dark Thirty. Fares had a role in Child 44 (2014) with Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman. Fares played Senator Vaspar in the Star Wars franchise movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).
For 2013's Kvinden i buret (English title: The Keeper of Lost Causes), which was set in Denmark, Fares learned to speak Danish. Keeper of Lost Causes is based on a novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen, the first of four features based on his Department Q novels. Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas will appear in all four films. Keeper of Lost Causes was Denmark's top film of 2013. Fasandræberne (English title: The Absent One) is the second film in the series. It also broke Danish film grosses, setting new records. The third film in the series, A Conspiracy of Faith (Flaskepost fra P), premiered in Denmark in March 2016 and in the United States in June.

### Television

In 2014, Fares portrayed Fauzi Nadal in the TV show Tyrant on the FX Network. Tyrant was renewed for a second season, which began airing in the summer of 2015, and a third season in summer 2016. From 2018 to 2019, Fares appeared in the two HBO series Westworld and Chernobyl. He portrayed the Forsaken Ishamael in The Wheel of Time in 2021 and 2023. In 2024, he appeared as the recurring role of Ruggiero in Netflix's The Decameron.

### Theater

* 1996: Samuel Beckett's I väntan på Godot (Waiting for Godot) at Teater Tamauer, Sweden
* 2000: Dom, directed by Jasenko Selimovic, with Torkel Petersson, at the Gothenburg City Theatre (Göteborgs Stadsteater), Gothenburg, Sweden
* 2000: Natten före skogarna at Teater Tamauer, Sweden
* 2001: Tillbaka till öknen at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden
* 2002: Köket at the Gothenburg City Theatre, Gothenburg, Sweden
* 2003: Brott, hemtjänst, straffpengar, pensionärsmord at Backstage, Sweden
* 2003: Den arabiska natten at Backstage, Sweden

### Other work

* Fares appears in two music videos for Lykke Li; 2011 single, "I Follow Rivers", directed by Tarik Saleh and 2014 album teaser, "I Never Learn"
* Appeared in Daniel Lemma's music video "If I Used To Love You" with Torkel Pettterson
* 2011: TV commercial for Tanqueray "Tonight We Tanqueray" - Actor — the bartender
* 2012: Short film, sponsored by Maiyet called Sleepwalking In the Rift, directed by Cary Fukunaga
* 2018: Plays Leo in the video game A Way Out
* 2021: Did additional voices for It Takes Two.

## Personal life

Fares has stated that he spends time in Stockholm and Los Angeles.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2000 | Before the Storm | Hostage taker | |
| 2000 | Jalla! Jalla! | Roro | |
| 2001 | Days Like This | Michel | |
| 2003 | Kopps | Jacob | Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival Best Actor Award |
| 2004 | I'm Your Man | Omar | Short film |
| 2004 | Day and Night | Kristian | Chicago International Film Festival Best Ensemble Acting Award |
| 2004 | Chlorox, Ammonium and Coffee | Jesus | |
| 2004 | Fakiren fra Bilbao | Frank Flambert | |
| 2005 | Zozo | The Chicken (voice) | |
| 2005 | Bang Bang Orangutang | Patrik | |
| 2006 | Kill Your Darlings | Omar | |
| 2006 | 7 miljonärer | Kristoffer El-Zeid | |
| 2007 | Leende guldbruna ögon | Roshan | Television miniseries |
| 2008 | For a Moment, Freedom | Manu | |
| 2008 | Maria Wern – Främmande fågel | Jonathan Sauma | Television series |
| 2008 | The Fur | Richardt | Short film |
| 2009 | Metropia | Firaz Sanoman (voice) | |
| 2010 | Easy Money | Mahmoud | |
| 2012 | Sleepwalking in the Rift | | Short film |
| 2012 | Safe House | Vargas | |
| 2012 | Easy Money II: Hard to Kill | Mahmoud | Nominated – Guldbagge Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2012 | Zero Dark Thirty | Hakim | |
| 2013 | The Keeper of Lost Causes | Assad | Danish cinema film adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen's book |
| 2014–2016 | Tyrant | Fauzi Nadal | Television series (19 episodes) |
| 2014 | The Absent One | Assad | Danish cinema film adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen's book. Won — Danish Film Gala for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2015 | Child 44 | Alexei Andreyev | |
| 2016 | The Commune | Allon | |
| 2016 | A Conspiracy of Faith | Assad | Danish cinema film adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen's book |
| 2016 | Rogue One: A Star Wars Story | Vasp Vaspar | |
| 2017 | The Nile Hilton Incident | Noredin Mustafa | |
| 2018 | Westworld | Antoine Costa | Television series |
| 2018 | The Purity of Vengeance (Journal 64) | Assad | Danish cinema film adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olsen's book |
| 2018 | A Way Out | Leo Caruso (voice) | Video game; also motion capture |
| 2019 | Chernobyl | Bacho | Television miniseries |
| 2021 | It Takes Two | Leo Caruso (voice) | Video game |
| 2021-2023 | The Wheel of Time | Ishamael/Ba'alzamon | Television series |
| 2022 | The Contractor | Salim | |
| 2022 | Boy from Heaven | Ibrahim | |
| 2023 | A Day and a Half | Lukas Malki | |
| 2024 | The Decameron | Ruggiero | Miniseries |
| 2025 | Split Fiction | Leo Caruso (voice) | Video game |