Sami Bouajila

Sami Bouajila (born 26 May 1966)^[1] is a Tunisian-French actor who has won two César Awards. Bouajila has worked and acted in two Oscar nominated films (Days of Glory and Outside the Law), both directed by director Rachid Bouchareb.

Sami Bouajila
Bouajila in 2012
Born	(1966-05-26) 26 May 1966 (age 59) La Tronche, France
Alma mater	Conservatoire de Grenoble
Occupation	Actor
Website	samibouajila.com

Early life

Bouajila's father emigrated from Tunisia to France in 1956, and worked as a building painter, a professionally recognized skill requiring specific technical knowledge. His grandfather was an Amazigh and immigrated to Tunisia. Bouajila was born and grew up in Échirolles, a suburb south of Grenoble. He studied theatre.

Political views

In June 2024, Bouajila signed a petition addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron demanding France to officially recognize the State of Palestine.^[2]

Filmography

Sami Bouajila at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

Film

2025

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	La Thune	Kamel
1993	Les Histoires d'amour finissent mal... en général	Slim Touati
1993	The Hour of the Pig	Mahmoud
1994	The Silences of the Palace	Lofti
1995	Bye-Bye	Ismaël
1996	Anna Oz	Marc
1997	Artemisia	Tassi's assistant
1997	Le Déménagement	Jean
1997	Né quelque part	Driss Bourafia
1998	The Siege	Samir Nazhde
1999	Inséparables	Boris
1999	La Peur du vide
1999	Our Happy Lives	Ali
2000	Douce France
2000	Drôle de Félix	Félix
2000	Faites comme si je n'étais pas là	Tom
2000	Poetical Refugee	Jallel
2000	Nouvelle de la tour L	Dealer
2001	Change moi ma vie	Fidel
2001	Replay	Nicolas
2002	Embrassez qui vous voudrez	Kévin
2002	The Nest	Selim
2002	Vivre me tue	Paul Smaïl
2003	La Légende de Parva	Agni	Voice
2003	Playing 'In the Company of Men'	Léonard
2003	Pas si grave	Charlie
2005	Avant l'oubli	Augustin Burger
2005	Zaïna, cavalière de l'Atlas	Mustapha
2006	Days of Glory	Abdel Kader
2006	Le Concile de pierre	Lucas
2007	24 mesures	Chris
2007	Le Dernier gang	Casa
2007	The Witnesses	Mehdi
2009	The Whistler	Karim Chaouche
2009	London River	Imam
2009	Bitter Victory	Yacine Guesmila
2009	Le Premier Cercle	Saunier
2010	De vrais mensonges	Jean
2010	Outside the Law	Abdelkader
2011	Omar Killed Me	Omar Raddad
2011	Carré blanc	Philippe
2014	Patchwork Family	Christian
2014	Divin Enfant	Jean
2015	Braqueurs	Yanis Zeri
2015	A Stormy Summer Night	Nabil
2015	Good Luck Algeria	Sam
2016	Pattaya	Krimo's father
2016	Scribe	Labarthe
2017	The Blessed	Samir
2018	Through the Fire	Dr. Almeida
2018	The Bouncer	Zeroual
2019	A Son	Fares Ben Youssef
2019	Paradise Beach	Mehdi
2020	Earth and Blood	Sami
2022	Our Ties	Moussa
2024	The Crow	Kronos
2025	Desert Warrior	TBA	Completed

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Une voix en or		Film
2001	Combats de femme – Libre à tout prix	The supervisor
2011	Signature	Toman
2014	My Son's Murderer Will Die Tonight	Antoine Harfouche	Film
2016	Don't Leave Me	Medhi	Film
2017–2018	Remember	Belgarde
2020	Of Earth and Blood	Saïd	Film
2021	Ganglands	Mehdi
2023	Black Butterflies	Carrel

Theatre

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1993	Romeo and Juliet	Daniel Benoin
1995	La Traversée ou le Cri de Peter Pan	Éric de Dadelsen
1996	Sallinger	Anne-Françoise Benhamou & Denis Loubaton
2004	Gagarin Way	Bertrand Bossard
2013	Ring	Catherine Schaub

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1995	Thessaloniki Film Festival	Best Actor	Bye-Bye	Won
2000	Cabourg Film Festival	Male Revelation	Drôle de Félix	Won
2006	Cannes Film Festival	Best Actor[3]	Days of Glory	Won
2008	César Award	Best Supporting Actor	The Witnesses	Won
2012	César Award	Best Actor	Omar Killed Me	Nominated
2015	Dubai International Film Festival	Lifetime Achievement Award	—	Won
2019	Venice Film Festival	Horizons Award for Best Actor	A Son	Won
2021	César Award	Best Actor		Won