![]() |
Osamah Sami | |
---|---|
أسامة سامي | |
Born | Qom, Iran |
Occupation(s) | Actor, writer, comedian |
Notable work | Good Muslim Boy (book) Ali's Wedding (film) |
Awards | AACTA Award Film Critics Circle of Australia Award Australian Muslim Achievement Award Sydney Indie Film Festival Award NSW Premier's Literary Award. Australian Writers' Guild Award Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Award |
Osamah Sami is an Australian stage and screen actor, writer, and stand-up comedian, born in Iran of Iraqi origin. He is known for his book Good Muslim Boy, and the film Ali's Wedding .
Good Muslim Boy, was the winner of the 2016 New South Wales Premier's Literary Award, [1] and was commended at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards that same year. [2]
Sami co-wrote and starred in Ali's Wedding , which was acquired by Netflix. His work earned him an Australian Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as well as a nomination for Best Lead Actor. [3] This was mirrored at the 2018 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards in 2018, where it won Best Script, and Sami was nominated for Best Male Lead. [4] His script also received an Australian Writers' Guild Award in the Best Original Film category. [5] The film won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2017 Sydney Film Festival, [6] and was the winner of The Age Critics Prize at Melbourne International Film Festival. [7] Ali's Wedding was also awarded the $100,000 CinefestOz film prize in 2017. [8]
Osamah has also been nominated for a Green Room Award for Best Male Performer in a Lead Role for Melbourne Theatre Company's I Call My Brothers. [9]
Osamah Sami was born in Qom, Iran, to Iraqi parents. He was cast in several roles on stage in his hometown as a child . [10] [11]
After immigrating to Australia, he began working with a local theatre group and starred in many productions from then on. The play Trial of Saddam , where he played Saddam Hussein, was written by his father. In 2005 he was part of a theatre group that was prevented from entering the United States to perform the play. [10] [11]
He has since gone on to work regularly in film, theatre, and television. He has been cast in several leading roles. In 2009 he played opposite Claudia Karvan in the telemovie Saved , directed by Tony Ayres. [12] He also played the lead role in the award-winning Dee McLachlan comedy feature, 10 Terrorists . His guest roles include TV shows including East West 101 , Rush, Sea Patrol , City Homicide , Jack Irish , and a regular role in the TV series Kick .
His theatre appearances include Belvoir St. Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company, Queensland Theatre Company, Malthouse Theatre Company, and La Mama.
Sami starred opposite Zar Amir Ebrahimi in the 2023 film Shayda . Shayda was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Film after premiering as the 2023 opening night film at Sundance. It was also selected as the opening night film at Melbourne International Film Festival, and went on to win the 2023 CinefestOZ $100,000 film prize. [13]
Sami co-created and co-wrote a television drama series called House of Gods , which aired on ABC TV [14] and ABC iview from 25 February 2024. [15] The drama centres around an imam and his family as well as the Australian Arab / Iraqi community he leads, with Sami using his own real-life experiences to tell the story of the community of which he is a part. [14]
Sami writes a poetry blog, with four main categories: Love, Social Justice, For Dad, and War. [16]
Leah Maree Purcell is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's Somewhere in the Darkness, which led to roles in films, such as Lantana (2001), Somersault (2004), The Proposition (2005) and Jindabyne (2006).
Luke Davies is an Australian writer of poetry, novels and screenplays. His best known works are Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction and the screenplay for the film Lion, which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Davies also co-wrote the screenplay for the film News of the World.
Lindy Davies is an Australian actress, director, actor trainer and performance consultant. She played Ruth Ballinger in the Australian soap opera Prisoner in 1985, and won the AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film Malcolm. She went on to be the head of drama at the Victorian College of the Arts for over 11 years until 2007, and worked as a performance consultant on films including Afterglow (1997) and Away From Her (2006) with Julie Christie.
Rolf de Heer is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and is based in Adelaide. De Heer primarily makes alternative or arthouse films. According to the jacket notes of the videotape, de Heer holds the honor of co-producing and directing the only motion picture, Dingo, in which the jazz legend Miles Davis appears as an actor. Miles Davis collaborated with Michel Legrand on the score.
Thomas Michael Wright is an Australian actor, writer, film director and producer. He is the co-founder (2006) and director of theatre company Black Lung and director of the feature film Acute Misfortune (2019). As an actor he came to attention in Jane Campion's series Top of the Lake, for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the (US-Canadian) Critics' Choice Awards. He directed the thriller film The Stranger, which appeared at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Adam Zwar is an Australian actor, voice artist, and writer. He is best known for co-creating the Australian comedy series Squinters, Lowdown, Wilfred and creating the critically acclaimed Channel 10 comedy Mr. Black as well as the popular factual series Agony Aunts, Agony Uncles, The Agony of Life, The Agony of Modern Manners and Agony. Zwar also presented and produced seminal cricket documentaries Underarm: The Ball That Changed Cricket and Bodyline: The Ultimate Test which took a forensic look at the infamous 1932–1933 Ashes series between Australia and England.
Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films Ali's Wedding, Paper Planes, Miss Potter, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Children of the Revolution and The Nugget. He also composed the theme for SBS World News.
Robert Rabiah is an Australian film actor, screen writer, and producer. He is best known for his roles as Hakim in Face to Face (2011), for which he was nominated for a AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Film and Best Actor at the Inside Film Awards, and as Bilal in Safe Harbour (2018) for which he was nominated at the Equity Ensemble Awards.
Andrew John Knight is an Australian TV writer and producer of film and television, known for his work on Rake, Jack Irish, Hacksaw Ridge, Ali's Wedding and The Water Diviner.
Ali's Wedding is a 2017 Australian romantic comedy feature film from Matchbox Pictures. It is directed by Jeffrey Walker and written by Osamah Sami and stars Sami, Helana Sawires, Don Hany and Ryan Corr. Sami has been quoted as saying that the film is "history making, the first Muslim rom-com. This movie will hopefully pave the way for many other similar stories, not just from the Muslim community but from other communities and other minorities in our society." He said that the "affectionate and poignant story of love" was trying to cast a more positive light on Muslim-Australian life.
Alice Foulcher is an Australian writer and actress, best known for the Australian indie drama-comedy That's Not Me (2017). She is also known for her roles in Paris Syndrome and A Bit Rich.
That's Not Me is a 2017 Australian independent comedy film directed by Gregory Erdstein. It was filmed between 2015 and 2016 in Melbourne, Australia, and Los Angeles, US. The screenplay was written by Gregory Erdstein and lead actress Alice Foulcher. That's Not Me had its World Premiere in February 2017 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and its Australian Premiere in June 2017 at the Sydney Film Festival. It was released theatrically at selected cinemas across Australia in September 2017. In 2020 That's Not Me was nominated for the AACTA Byron Kennedy Award, as one of the top 12 indie feature films of the past decade.
Mark Leonard Winter is an Australian actor, known for performances in film, television and on stage.
Ali's Wedding (soundtrack) is the original motion picture soundtrack for the 2017 Australian romantic comedy of the same name starring Osamah Sami and Don Hany. The soundtrack is credited to Nigel Westlake, Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Joseph Tawadros, Slava Grigoryan and Lior and was released in September 2017.
Acute Misfortune is a 2018 Australian drama film co-written, directed and produced by Thomas M. Wright. The story is based on Sydney journalist Erik Jensen's biography of Australian artist Adam Cullen, who died at the age of 46, and stars Daniel Henshall as Adam Cullen.
CinefestOZ is an annual film festival that takes place over five days in the South West region of Western Australia. IndigifestOZ is a section of the festival devoted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers. The CinefestOZ Film Prize of A$100,000 is the richest film prize in the country.
Monolith is a 2022 Australian science-fiction thriller film directed by Matt Vesely from a script written by Lucy Campbell, and produced by Bettina Hamilton. Described as high-concept science fiction, it stars Lily Sullivan, the only on-screen actor in the film, as a journalist uncovering a mystery.
Shayda is a 2023 Australian drama film written, directed and co-produced by Noora Niasari. The film stars Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Mojean Aria, Jillian Nguyen, Rina Mousavi, Selina Zahednia, and Leah Purcell. The story follows an Iranian immigrant woman in Australia who is raising her young daughter as the two live in a women's shelter.
The Rooster is a 2023 Australian comedy drama film directed by Mark Leonard Winter and starring Hugo Weaving, Phoenix Raei, and John Waters.
{{cite web}}
: Cite uses generic title (help)