Biography
Adept at both highly physical roles and more finely calibrated dramatic work, Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari graduated quickly from features in his native country like the acclaimed "Wolf" (2013) to Hollywood projects like "Ben-Hur" (2016), "The Mummy" (2017) and "Aladdin" (2018). Born January 16, 1983 to Tunisian parents in The Hague in the Netherlands, he began acting as a teenager when a girlfriend signed him up to audition for a production of the musical "Chicago." Kenzari's feature film debut came in "Katia's Sister" (2008), a dark drama about immigrants in his native country, and he soon added recurring turns as a con artist on the Dutch police drama "Flikken Maastrict" (NPO, 2007- ) and as a young Moroccan man on a soul-searching road trip in "Rabat" (2011). Kenzari finally earned his breakout role as a Dutch-born kickboxer who falls in with organized crime elements in "Wolf" (2013). His turn, which required him to undergo 18 months of specialized training, won a Golden Calf for Best Actor from the Netherlands Film Festival, and brought Kenzari international attention. This, in turn, led to appearances in a slew of English-language projects, from modest action projects like "Collide" (2013), with Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins, to epic adventures "Ben-Hur" (2016), which cast him as the Roman officer Druses, and "The Promise" (2016), with Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale. There were also turns as a member of a secret society charged with investigating supernatural occurrences in "The Mummy" (2016) and as an agent for a dystopian future society in "What Happened to Monday" (Netflix, 2017). The latter year proved to be one of the most high-profile periods in his career, with a supporting turn as a train conductor caught in a baffling mystery in Kenneth Branagh's "Murder on the Orient Express" (2017) and the announcement that he would play the wicked magician Jafar in a live-action take on "Aladdin" (2018) for director Guy Ritchie and Walt Disney Pictures.
