Yousef (Joe) Sweid
| Yousef (Joe) Sweid | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Yousef Sweid 22 June 1976 |
| Residence | Berlin, Germany |
| Spouse(s) | Yael Ronen (div. 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
Yousef "Joe" Sweid (Arabic: يوسف سويد, Hebrew: יוסף סוויד; born June 22, 1976) is an Arab-Israeli actor and dancer.
Biography
Sweid was born to an Arab Christian family in Haifa, Israel. He is a graduate of the theater department at Tel Aviv University, and took his first steps in theater when he joined the Arab-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa. He went on to participate in television shows including Dancing again tonight (1991), Lane of White Chairs (a winner at the 1996 Acre Festival), Oh Brother Boom Boom (which in 2003 won at the Haifa festival for children's programming), Dragon (2004), and Immigrants (2005).
On stage, he performed alongside Ruth Kanner in 2001's Things You See Here Do Not See From There; in 2002 he appeared in Sea Shadow.
Sweid also participated in the international production The Time We Did Not Know Anything About Each Other, and in the dance production Barefoot. In 2001 he became director of a community theater program for both Arabs and Jews in Ramallah.
In 2016 he joined the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as a Meereenese freedman.
Filmography
- 2002 : It's Not Me It's Not You (TV show) : Bartender
- 2004 : Maktub ("Destiny", TV movie) : Atef, a Druze policeman
- 2004 : Walk on Water : Rafik, an Arab Israeli waiter
- 2005 : Kvish ("The Road")
- 2005 : Telenovela Ltd.
- 2006 : Ha 'Alufa ("The Champion", TV series) : Jalal Kasum, a footballer
- 2006 : The Bubble : Ashraf, a Palestinian (starring role)
- 2008 : Restless : Arik
- 2009 : Agora : Peter, a fanatic Christian leader in 4th-century Alexandria
- 2011 : Homeland (American TV show, pilot episode) : Hasan Ibrahim (credited as Yusuf Swade)
- 2013 : Omar : Torturer
- 2015 : Johnny and The Knights of Galilee (Israeli TV show) : Kais
- 2016 : The Writer (Israeli TV show) : Kateb
- 2016: Game of Thrones : Meereenese freedman
Sweid also animates the puppet Mahboob ("beloved" in Arabic) in Sesame Street on Israel's Hop! channel.
Personal life
Sweid was married to Yael Ronen, a director at the Cameri Theatre. They had a baby son in 2009. In 2015 they got divorced.
Sweid resides in Berlin, Germany.