Fares Fares

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 films directed by his brother, Josef Fares. He debuted in Jalla! Jalla! (2000) and Kopps (2003). 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 American CIA officer Hakim in Zero Dark Thirty (2012). 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 The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013), which was set in Denmark, Fares learned to speak Danish in two months. The Keeper of Lost Causes was Denmark's top film of 2013. The film is based on a novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen It is the first of ten features based on his Department Q novels. Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas appeared in the first four films, produced by Zentropa.

Fares is partially known for his long-standing collaborative relationship with director Tarik Saleh, most famously starring in his Cairo trilogy, consisting of The Nile Hilton Incident (2017), Boy from Heaven (2022), and Eagles of the Republic (2025). Each film examines and criticizes the political corruption within Egypt at different levels during different periods, with Fares' characters at the center of pivotal events or circumstances. He has also had minor roles in the director's other films The Contractor (2022) and Metropia (2009), as well as various music videos he's directed for Lykke Li.

In 2020, Fares made his producing debut with the miniseries Partisan. A few years later, in 2023, he made his directorial debut with A Day and a Half, a Netflix original film which was loosely inspired by a real story.

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, 2023 and 2025. In 2024, he appeared in 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

• 2004: Fares and his brother Josef voice acted in the Swedish dub of Shark Tale
• 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 Petersson
• 2011: TV commercial for Tanqueray "Tonight We Tanqueray" — the bartender
• 2012: Short film, sponsored by Maiyet called Sleepwalking In the Rift, directed by Cary Fukunaga
• 2018: Voice acted in the video game A Way Out — Leo Caruso
• 2021: Additional voices for It Takes Two
• 2022: TV commercial for Volvo "The Parents" — the father
• 2025: Additional voices for Split Fiction

Personal life

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

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

References

1. (2020-11-14). "Fares Fares och Clara Hallencreutz har gift sig i smyg".
2. Oxblod, Aino. (2020-11-13). "Clara Hallencreutz gift sig – hemligt bröllop med Fares".
3. (30 July 2006). "Nuri Kino har skrivit historia igen!". Hujådå.
4. (25 August 2013). "Zero Dark Thirty's Fares Fares is not interested in playing bad guys". [[The National (Abu Dhabi).
5. (1 October 2014). "Fares Fares: - Jeg er vild med Assad". [[Ekstra Bladet]].
6. (12 December 2013). "Fares Fares". The Last Magazine.
7. (10 February 2011). "Daniel Espinosa's 'Safe House' Finds A Villain In 'Snabba Cash' Star Fares Fares". [[Indiewire]].
8. (24 February 2012). "'Safe House' Actor Joins Kathryn Bigelow's Bin Laden Film (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
9. (26 February 2012). "'Snabba Cash' & 'Safe House' Star Fares Fares Joins Kathryn Bigelow's 'Kill Bin Laden'". [[Indiewire]].
10. (23 May 2013). "Paddy Considine and Fares Fares Join Tom Hardy Thriller 'Child 44′ (Exclusive)". [[The Wrap]].
11. (23 October 2013). "'The Keeper of Lost Causes' on Track to Be Denmark's No. 1 Film of 2013". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
12. (4 October 2012). "'Safe House' Actor Fares Fares Joins 'Department Q' Franchise". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
13. tkhaldi. (19 May 2025). "Eagles of the Republic: the final installment of the Cairo trilogy by Tarik Saleh".
14. Dams, Tim. (2024-05-14). "Playtime boards Tarik Saleh’s political thriller ‘Eagles Of The Republic’ (exclusive)".
15. (1 September 2023). "Netflix's A Day and a Half ending and true story, explained".
16. (27 August 2013). "Howard Gordon's FX Pilot 'Tyrant' Enlists 'Zero Dark Thirty' Actor (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
17. (18 September 2014). "'Tyrant' gets a second reign as FX renews drama". [[Los Angeles Times]].
18. "Hajar som hajar (2004) - SFdb".
19. (6 May 2014). "Lykke Li's 'I Never Learn': What the Critics Are Saying". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
20. (7 December 2012). "Watch: Cary Fukunaga Directed Short 'Sleepwalking In the Rift' Starring Haley Bennett & Fares Fares". [[Indiewire]].
21. (6 December 2012). "Sleepwalking in the Rift".
22. (16 October 2014). "Fares Fares: Min kvinde skal have selvtillid — og være feminin". [[Femina (Denmark).
23. (1 February 2015). "Prisregn över Lars von Trier". [[Västerbottens-Kuriren]].