Fares Fares (; born 29 April 1973) is a Swedish actor, producer, and director. He is known for his collaborations with director Tarik Saleh, as well as his roles in notable shows such as Chernobyl and The Wheel of Time. Fares 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.
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. This film was the first of ten features based on Jussi Adler-Olsen's Department Q novels. Fares and Nikolaj Lie Kaas appeared in the first four of these films, produced by Zentropa. Their roles were later recast when the film rights were sold to Nordisk Film.
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 YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes2000 Before the Storm Hostage takerReza Parsa Jalla! Jalla! RoroJosef Fares 2001 Days Like This MichelMikael Håfström2002Mofars Big BangDoctorGunnar A. Hellström 2003 Kopps JacobJosef Fares2004 I'm Your Man OmarSarah Gyllenstierna Short film Day and Night KristianSimon Staho Chlorox, Ammonium and Coffee JesusMona J. Hoel Fakiren fra Bilbao Frank FlambertPeter Flinth2005 Zozo The Chicken (voice)Josef Fares Bang Bang Orangutang PatrikSimon Staho2006 Kill Your Darlings OmarBjörne Larson 7 miljonärer Kristoffer El-ZeidMichael Hjorth2008 For a Moment, Freedom ManuArash T. Riahi The Fur RichardtBjörne Larson Short film 2009 Metropia Firaz Sanoman (voice)Tarik Saleh 2010 Easy Money MahmoudDaniel Espinosa2012 Sleepwalking in the RiftCary Joji Fukunaga Short film Safe House VargasDaniel Espinosa Easy Money II: Hard to Kill MahmoudBabak Najafi Zero Dark Thirty HakimKathryn Bigelow 2013 The Keeper of Lost Causes AssadMikkel Nørgaard 2014 The Absent One AssadMikkel Nørgaard 2015 Child 44 Alexei AndreyevDaniel Espinosa2016 The Commune AllonThomas Vinterberg A Conspiracy of Faith AssadHans Petter Moland Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Vasp VasparGareth Edwards 2017 The Nile Hilton Incident Noredin MustafaTarik Saleh2018 The Purity of Vengeance AssadChristoffer Boe2022 The Contractor SalimTarik Saleh Boy from Heaven IbrahimTarik Saleh2023A Day and a HalfLukas MalkiFares Fares2025Eagles of the RepublicGeorge FahmyTarik Saleh2026 Adult Supervision Bobo Alex Schulman
Television YearTitleRoleDirectorNetworkNotes2007 Leende guldbruna ögon RoshanEmiliano Goessens, Anna Hylander SVT12008 Maria Wern – Främmande fågel Jonathan SaumaErik Leijonborg TV42014–2016 Tyrant Fauzi NadalGideon Raff FXMain role; 19 episodes2018WestworldAntoine CostaVarious directorsHBORecurring role; season 2Deep StateGabrielRobert ConnollyFOXGuest appearance; Episode "Old Habits"2019ChernobylBachoJohan RenckHBOMiniseries; Episode "The Happiness of All Mankind" 2020 Partisan JohnnyAmir ChamdinViaplayMain role; season 1, 5 episodes2021–2025The Wheel of Time Ishamael / Ba'alzamon Various directorsAmazon Prime Video Main role; 10 episodes2024 The Decameron RuggieroAndrew DeYoung, Anya AdamsNetflixMiniseries; recurring role, 2 episodes 2025We Come In PeaceElias CharbelJens Jonsson, Mani MaserratTV4Miniseries; main role2026BytetCarlKasper BarfoedNetflixMiniseries; main role
Video games YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes2018 A Way Out Leo Caruso (voice)Josef Fares Main role, also motion capture2021It Takes Two Leo Caruso (voice)Josef Fares Cameo appearance2025Split FictionLeo Caruso (voice)Josef FaresCameo appearance
References
External links