Rahel Romahn (born ) is a Kurdish-Iraqi born Australian actor.
Early life
Born in Kurdistan, in Northern Iraq, Romahn's family fled Saddam Hussein’s regime when he was three, initially hiding in Turkey for a year, then emigrating to Australia, where he grew up in Parramatta, in western Sydney.
Despite having to adjust to a new language and culture, Rohman was performing in school productions by grade three, playing Fagin in Oliver Twist and Hook in Peter Pan. Romahn describes himself as "an oddball recluse who loved to mimic people and accents." After watching Al Pacino in Scarface, he was inspired to express himself creatively. He got further into acting, after hearing a radio advertisement for a local drama school when he was 13, and took screen acting workshops in Sydney.
After Romahn finished high school, he worked in customer service for a leading Australian bank, while honing his acting skills at home after hours. Stage and screen appearances followed.
Career
Romahn initially scored a small role in Underbelly in 2010. From there he starred in his breakthrough role in SBS miniseries The Principal.
Other roles he has played include the TV series Shantaram and Mr Inbetween, miniseries Australian Gangster and films Little Monsters, Ali's Wedding, Down Under and Alex & Eve.
He has also appeared in a number of stage roles, most recently as Mozart (opposite Michael Sheen as Antonio Salieri) in Amadeus at the Sydney Opera House in 2023.
For his performance in The Principal, Romahn was nominated for the 2016 AACTA Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama and the 2016 Logie Award for Most Outstanding Newcomer. In 2022, he was also the winner of the annual Heath Ledger Scholarship, selected from a field of more than 600 candidates.
Personal life Romahn is a fan of English football club, Liverpool.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Type 2007 Battle Therapy Too Deepak Feature film 2008 The Ground Beneath Lewis Short film 2009 The Combination Mo Feature film 2009 Bani Ibrahim Yusof Short film 2012 The Day Hollywood Died Charlie Feature film 2012 Smile, Lisa Ray Short film 2015 Alex & Eve Shadi Feature film 2015 Benny Tony Short film (also co-director) 2016 Down Under Nick Feature film 2016 Ali's Wedding Ayoob Feature film 2017 The Missing Bad Guy Short film 2017 Blood Orange Eli Short film (also executive producer) 2019 Little Monsters Griffin Feature film 2019 The Combination: Redemption Mo Feature film 2020 Moon Rock for Monday Moose Feature film 2021 Here Out West Rashid Anthology film 2023 Streets of Colour Terrence 'Tez' Hadid Feature film 2023 Crushing Season Ando Short film 2024 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Vulture Feature film 2024 The Surfer Conlon, The Estate Agent Feature film 2024 The Correspondent Baher Mohamed Feature film Post-production Wizards! The Man / Alexander Feature film
Television Year Title Role Type 2010 Underbelly: The Golden Mile Talal Assaad TV miniseries, episode 7: "Full Force Gale" 2010 Gangs of Oz Wahlid TV series, season 2, episode 3: "Young Guns, Loose Cannons" 2011 Random Dares Ray TV series, season 1, episode 4: "Puppy Dogs" 2015 The Principal Tarek Ahmad TV miniseries, 4 episodes 2015 Ready for This Ryan TV series, 2 episodes 2016 Janet King Sam Nobakht TV series, season 2, 6 episodes 2016 Cleverman Ludo TV series, season 1, episode 1: "First Contact" 2016 Hyde & Seek Jamil TV miniseries, 2 episodes 2017 Plans Zia TV miniseries, 7 episodes 2017 The Other Guy Paul Perry TV series, season 1, episode 6: "Dog Murphy" 2017 Pulse Adam Aswany TV miniseries, episode 7 2018 Mr Inbetween Hassam TV series, season 1, 2 episodes 2019 Secret City Nakeesh TV series, season 2, episode 5: "From Whom the Bell Tolls" 2021 Australian Gangster Mohammed 'Little Crazy' Hamzy, Brothers for Life member TV miniseries, 2 episodes 2022 God’s Favourite Idiot Pestilence TV series, season 1, 2 episodes 2022 8 Nights Out West Himself TV series, season 1, episode 1 2022 Shantaram Rafiq TV series, season 1, 7 episodes 2023 Wolf Like Me Kaos TV series, season 2, episode 3 2024 Human Error Jarred Pines TV miniseries, 6 episodes
Stage Year Title Role Type 2016 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Snug / Moth / A Fairy Sydney Opera House with STC 2017 Three Sisters Solyony Sydney Opera House with STC 2018 The Harp in the South Herb Lennon / Harry Drummy / Ernest Blainey Roslyn Packer Theatre with STC 2019 Mary Stuart Davison Roslyn Packer Theatre with STC 2019 Lord of the Flies Piggy Roslyn Packer Theatre with STC 2019 Cosi Doug Southbank Theatre, Melbourne, Sydney Opera House with MTC & STC 2020 No Pay? No Way! Luigi Sydney Opera House with STC 2021 Queen Fatima Karim Riverside Theatres Parramatta for Sydney Festival 2022 Amadeus Mozart Sydney Opera House https://shanahan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ROMAHN-Rahel-150524.pdf
Awards Year Work Award Category Result 2016 The Principal AACTA Awards Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama 2016 The Principal Logie Awards Most Outstanding Newcomer 2022 Rahel Romahn Heath Ledger Scholarship
References
External links