Sami Outalbali

Sami Outalbali
Born (1999-03-19) 19 March 1999 (age 25)
Poissy, Yvelines, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationActor
Years active2006–present

Sami Outalbali (born 19 March 1999) is a French actor. He rose to prominence for portraying Ilyes on the OCS drama series Grown Ups [fr] (2016–2019) and gained international recognition for his role as Rahim in the Netflix comedy-drama series Sex Education (2020–2021). He is also known for his roles in the supernatural series Mortel (2019–2021) and the drama film A Tale of Love and Desire (2021).

Early life

Sami Outalbali was born in Poissy, Yvelines, on 19 March 1999.[1] He has Moroccan and Guadeloupean ancestry.[2] At the age of 3, he appeared in a Disney advertisement.[3]

Career

Outalbali first appeared on screen in the France 3 television film Il faut sauver Saïd in 2006.[4] In 2011, he played a minor role in the comedy film Les Tuche.[5]

He had his breakout role in the OCS teen drama series Grown Ups [fr] (French: Les Grands; 2016–2019),[5][6] created by Vianney Lebasque [fr], in which he portrays Ilyes, a gay high school student coming to terms with his sexuality.[7] In 2018, he appeared in the first part of the Arte miniseries Proud [fr] (French: Fiertés), created by Philippe Faucon.[3][8] In 2019, he starred in Laurent Micheli's Lola and Benjamin Parent's Un vrai bonhomme [fr].[4][6] That same year, he also appeared in the Netflix supernatural series Mortel as a missing teenager called Reda, the older brother of Sofiane (Carl Malapa).[9][10][11]

In 2019, he joined the cast of the second series of the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education in a recurring role.[12] On the show, which marks his English-speaking debut, he portrays Rahim Harrack, a French exchange student who becomes a love interest of Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa).[1][10] He also returned for the show's third series.[13][10] In August 2020, he starred in the music video for the single "Coup de Blues/Soleil" by Bigflo & Oli.[14]

In 2019, he was cast in Leyla Bouzid's romantic drama film A Tale of Love and Desire as Ahmad Ouannas, a young French man of Algerian origin, who experiences a sexual awakening after meeting a Tunisian woman (Zbeida Belhajamor [fr]).[15] The film premiered in the Critics' Week section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[16] For this role, Outalbali was nominated for Best Male Revelation at the 27th Lumières Awards[17] and Most Promising Actor at the 47th César Awards.[18][19]

In April 2022, he served as a member of the jury at the 5th Canneseries festival in Cannes.[20][21] He appeared in Cédric Jimenez's 2022 film Novembre.[22][11]

Personal life

As of 2020, Outalbali resides in Paris.[8]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2011 Les Tuche Jean-Wa [4]
2019 Lola Samir [4]
Un vrai bonhomme [fr] Sonnie [4]
2021 A Tale of Love and Desire Ahmed Ouannas [15]
2022 Novembre Kader [22]

Television

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2006 Il faut sauver Saïd Television film [4]
2012 Vive la colo ! Sami [8]
2016–2019 Grown Ups [fr] Ilyes [6]
2018 Proud [fr] Sélim Miniseries [8]
Torn [fr] Sofiane Television film [8]
2019–2021 Mortel Reda Kada 9 episodes [9]
2020–2021 Sex Education Rahim Harrack Recurring role; 15 episodes [1]

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s) Ref.
2020 "Coup de Blues/Soleil" Bigflo & Oli featuring Bon Entendeur [fr] [14]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2021 Angoulême Francophone Film Festival Valois for Best Actor A Tale of Love and Desire Won [23]
2022 Lumières Awards Best Male Revelation Nominated [17]
César Awards Most Promising Actor Nominated [18]

References

  1. ^ a b c Clarke, Emma (18 January 2020). "Who is the new 'French guy' in Sex Education? Meet the actor who plays Eric's boyfriend Rahim". Evening Standard. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  2. ^ Jean, Thomas (30 August 2021). "Sami Outalbali, le BG Frenchy de Sex Education". Elle (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b "La nouvelle vague du cinéma français". GQ (in French). 5 May 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Mingot, Jérémy (17 January 2020). "Sex Education (Netflix) : qui est Sami Outalbali, l'acteur français au casting de la saison 2 de la série ?". Télé-Loisirs [fr] (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  5. ^ a b "De " Sex Education " au grand écran, le fabuleux parcours de Sami Outalbali". Vanity Fair (in French). 17 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Jamet, Constance (17 January 2020). "Qui est Sami Outalbali, la recrue Frenchie de Sex Education ?". TV Magazine (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  7. ^ Fontana, Céline (12 October 2017). "Les Grands font une entrée explosive au lycée". TV Magazine (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d e Bhagchandani, Umesh (8 February 2020). "Meet LGBTQ+ icon Sami Outalbali, the French Netflix star of Sex Education who is everyone's next obsession". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  9. ^ a b Romero, Ariana (21 November 2019). "What The Heck Is Mortel, Netflix's Spooky-Sexy French Teen Show?". Refinery29. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  10. ^ a b c Patton, Rebecca (17 January 2020). "Eric's New Love Interest On 'Sex Education' Is Way Too Cool For School". Bustle. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  11. ^ a b Robinson, Abby (28 October 2021). "Sex Education season 4 on Netflix – where to watch the cast while you wait". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  12. ^ Edwards, Chris (18 November 2019). "Sex Education season 2 reveals first look at Netflix show's new characters". Digital Spy. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  13. ^ O'Donnell, Patrick (7 September 2021). "'Sex Education' season three: everything we know so far". NME. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  14. ^ a b Pierret, Benjamin (6 August 2020). "Bigflo et Oli convient un acteur de "Sex Education" dans le clip de "Coup de Blues/Soleil"". BFM TV (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  15. ^ a b Lemercier, Fabien (20 September 2019). "Leyla Bouzid is about to start filming A Story of Love and Desire". Cineuropa. Translated by Elena Lazic. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  16. ^ Lemercier, Fabien (15 July 2021). "Cannes 2021 Critics' Week: Review: A Tale of Love and Desire". Cineuropa. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  17. ^ a b Goodfellow, Melanie (18 January 2022). "'Happening', 'Annette', 'The Worst Person In The World' triumph at Lumières". Screendaily. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  18. ^ a b Garrigues, Manon (26 February 2022). "The winners of the 47th César ceremony". Vogue. Translated by Anissa Agrama. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  19. ^ Lopez, Emilie (24 February 2022). "Nommé au César 2022 du meilleur espoir masculin, Sami Outalbali a joué dans une célèbre série Netflix, découvrez laquelle !". Télé-Loisirs [fr] (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  20. ^ Guerrin, Stéphanie (5 April 2022). ""Sex Education" : Chinenye Ezeudu et Sami Outalbali se retrouvent à Cannes avant la saison 4". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  21. ^ Goldbart, Max (28 March 2022). "'Call My Agent!' Creator Fanny Herrero Unveiled As Canneseries 2022 Jury President". Deadline. Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  22. ^ a b Sanchez, Jean-Christophe (6 April 2022). "Sami Outalbali : " On m'appelle souvent Rahim dans la rue "". Radio Monaco [fr] (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.
  23. ^ Desroches, Thomas; Baronnet, Brigitte (29 August 2021). "Festival Angoulême 2021 : Une histoire d'amour et de désir et La vraie famille au palmarès". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2022.