---
name: "Tahar Rahim"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/tahar-rahim"
fi1m_id: "tahar-rahim"
imdb_id: "nm2588665"
tmdb_id: 81051
wikidata_id: "Q981690"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "4 July 1981"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 7
average_fi1m_score: 66
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 7
updated: "2026-10-07T17:17:37.911823+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tahar Rahim

## Identity

Tahar Rahim

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/tahar-rahim
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** tahar-rahim
- **IMDb ID:** nm2588665
- **TMDB ID:** 81051
- **Wikidata ID:** Q981690
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahar_Rahim, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q981690, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2588665/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/81051

Actor. Born 4 July 1981 in Belfort, Territoire de Belfort, France.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 4 July 1981, Belfort, Territoire de Belfort, France
- **Active:** 2009–present
- **Also known as:** ტაჰარ რაჰიმი, تاهر رحیم
- **BAFTA Film Awards:** 1 BAFTA nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 66, as actor, over 7 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 86 (1), 2010s 73 (3), 2020s 53 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 66 to 65 across 7 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 4 at 60–79, 2 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 3 of 7 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 6, Crime 2, Action 1, Fantasy 1, History 1, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 11 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $359m across 5 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahar_Rahim, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q981690, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2588665/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/81051

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*The Looming Tower*](https://film.one/tv/the-looming-tower.md) (70), [*Madame Web*](https://film.one/film/madame-web.md) (38)
- **Apple TV:** [*Napoleon*](https://film.one/film/napoleon.md) (63)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*The Mauritanian*](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md) (58)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Tahar Rahim

> Tahar Rahim makes a character’s growing cunning feel learnt under pressure. We rate him most highly when a film gives that change time to register, as *A Prophet* does; *Napoleon* barely gives him a chance.

In *A Prophet* (2009), Tahar Rahim makes us watch Malik El Djebena working out who can help him and who can hurt him. He arrives in prison as an outsider, and Rahim lets the resourcefulness develop without making the vulnerability disappear. We were unsettled by how much we wanted Malik to master the prison’s alliances, because Rahim makes the danger of getting them wrong so convincing. He never asks us to confuse surviving with being innocent.

Jacques Audiard gives him room to develop in a film that treats alliances as seriously as violence. Niels Arestrup is forceful as César Luciani, but Rahim remains the person we follow most closely. The screenplay by Audiard and Thomas Bidegain sometimes arranges events too neatly to demonstrate Malik’s progress, making us aware of the plotting when we should be watching the people. Rahim keeps the changes believable, and the performance is a substantial reason to recommend the film despite that reservation.

After that breakthrough, Rahim turned down many stereotypical offers and alternated French films with international work. Asghar Farhadi’s *The Past* (2013) was an early collaboration; *The Mauritanian* (2021) brought his first major Hollywood lead. Television gave him Charles Sobhraj in the miniseries *The Serpent* (2021). For Sobhraj, he described starting with the idea of an animal and settling on a cobra.

In Ridley Scott’s *Napoleon* (2023), the problem is finding enough time for him at all. Rahim plays Paul Barras, but editors Claire Simpson and Sam Restivo hurry through the years in captions and brief scenes. His scenes are too brief to establish why Barras matters, and there is little an actor can do about a scene that is over before it has developed. We would be wary of choosing that film for Rahim alone. Start with *A Prophet*, provided a brutal prison drama is the evening you have in mind.

## Biography

Tahar Rahim is a French actor. He was born on 4 July 1981 in Belfort, France, and studied film at Paul Valéry University of Montpellier before training in drama at the Laboratoire de l'Acteur in Paris.

Rahim's breakthrough came with the lead role of Malik El Djebena in *A Prophet* (2009), for which he received the César Award for Best Actor and the César Award for Most Promising Actor. He has since appeared in films including *The Eagle* (2011), *The Past* (2013), *Mary Magdalene* (2018), *The Mauritanian* (2021), *Napoleon* (2023) as Paul Barras, and *Madame Web* (2024) as Ezekiel Sims, as well as the miniseries *The Serpent* (2021) as Charles Sobhraj.

He is married to actress Leïla Bekhti.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (7)

- *Madame Web* (2024), Fi1m 38, as Ezekiel Sims — [page](https://film.one/film/madame-web.md)
- *Napoleon* (2023), Fi1m 63, as Paul Barras — [page](https://film.one/film/napoleon.md)
- *The Mauritanian* (2021), Fi1m 58, as Mohamedou Ould Slahi — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md)
- *The Looming Tower* (2018), Fi1m 70, as Ali Soufan — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-looming-tower.md)
- *The Last Panthers* (2015), Fi1m 78, as Khalil — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-panthers.md)
- *The Past* (2013), Fi1m 72, as Samir — [page](https://film.one/film/the-past.md)
- *A Prophet* (2009), Fi1m 86, as Malik El Djebena — [page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md)

## Complete filmography (42)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Les Misérables* (2026), as Inspecteur Javert
- *Prisoner* (2026), series, as Tibor Stone
- *Alpha* (2025), as Amin
- *Monsieur Aznavour* (2024), as Charles Aznavour
- *Madame Web* (2024), as Ezekiel Sims — Fi1m 38, [page](https://film.one/film/madame-web.md)
- *Napoleon* (2023), as Paul Barras — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/napoleon.md)
- *Extrapolations* (2023), series, as Omar Haddad, Ezra Haddad
- *Don Juan* (2022), as Laurent
- *The Mauritanian* (2021), as Mohamedou Ould Slahi — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mauritanian.md)
- *The Serpent* (2021), series, as Charles Sobhraj
- *The Eddy* (2020), series, as Farid Youssfi, Farid
- *The Kindness of Strangers* (2019), as Marc
- *Gloomy Eyes* (2019), as French Grave keeper
- *Treat Me Like Fire* (2018), as Abel
- *Mary Magdalene* (2018), as Judas
- *The Looming Tower* (2018), series, as Ali Soufan — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-looming-tower.md)
- *The Price of Success* (2017), as Brahim
- *Heal the Living* (2016), as Thomas Rémige
- *Daguerrotype* (2016), as Jean
- *I Saved My Belly Dancer* (2016), Actor
- *The Last Panthers* (2015), series, as Khalil — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-last-panthers.md)
- *The Anarchists* (2015), as Jean Albertini
- *Santa Claus* (2014), as Le Père Noël
- *The Cut* (2014), as Nazaret Manoogian
- *Samba* (2014), as Walid aka Wilson
- *The Informant* (2013), as Redjani Belimane
- *Grand Central* (2013), as Gary
- *The Past* (2013), as Samir — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/film/the-past.md)
- *Our Children* (2012), as Mounir
- *Black Gold* (2011), as Auda
- *Free Men* (2011), as Younes
- *Love and Bruises* (2011), as Mathieu
- *Bref* (2011), series, as Tahar Rahim
- *The Eagle* (2011), as Seal Prince
- *You Never Left* (2010), Actor
- *A Prophet* (2009), as Malik El Djebena — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md)
- *La Commune* (2007), series, as Yazid Fikry
- *Inside* (2007), as Police Officer
- *Smiling Hacker*, Actor
- *Tahar l’étudiant*, as Tahar
- *The Little Fears*, as Damien
- *L'incident*, as Harry

## Gallery

- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-2a81d3c9ea8f.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Tahar_Rahim_2012.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Poster of the movie Grand Central (Q12137383) (2013)](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-5367ae33fc06.jpg) Poster of the movie Grand Central (Q12137383) (2013) — K-Films Amérique, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/181_Grand_Central_Fr.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Julia Ducournau, Tahar Rahim et Mélissa Boros à l'avant-première d'"Alpha" au Max Linder Panorama, le 20 août 2025.](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-8b593b4e369a.jpg) Julia Ducournau, Tahar Rahim et Mélissa Boros à l'avant-première d'"Alpha" au Max Linder Panorama, le 20 août 2025. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Alpha_avant-premi%C3%A8re.jpg/1280px-Alpha_avant-premi%C3%A8re.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tahar Rahim presenting the movie The Kindness of Strangers at the Berlinale 2019](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-357d0a6c7323.jpg) Tahar Rahim presenting the movie The Kindness of Strangers at the Berlinale 2019 — Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/MJK_331404_Tahar_Rahim_%28The_Kindness_of_Strangers%2C_Berlinale_2019%29.jpg/1280px-MJK_331404_Tahar_Rahim_%28The_Kindness_of_Strangers%2C_Berlinale_2019%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-1c83ae675499.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-bb5cf2f10b40.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-544bd69200a3.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB
- ![Avant-première de "Monsieur Aznavour" au Grand Rex, en octobre 2024.](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-bf55cd487254.jpg) Avant-première de "Monsieur Aznavour" au Grand Rex, en octobre 2024. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Monsieur_Aznavour_avant-premi%C3%A8re.jpg/1280px-Monsieur_Aznavour_avant-premi%C3%A8re.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tahar Rahim devant le Grand Rex à l'avant-première de "Monsieur Aznavour", en octobre 2024.](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-af5dea86c7f8.jpg) Tahar Rahim devant le Grand Rex à l'avant-première de "Monsieur Aznavour", en octobre 2024. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/Tahar_Rahim_2024.jpg/1280px-Tahar_Rahim_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-4359db5a7a10.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-72601580966f.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB
- ![Tahar Rahim](https://film.one/media/person/560/gallery-e4b92e6d69ec.jpg) Tahar Rahim — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### BAFTA Film Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2010: BAFTA Rising Star Award (nominated)

### Other awards — 4 won, 2 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Actor 2021: European Film Award for Best Actor (nominated), for *The Mauritanian*
- Officer of Arts and Letters 2017: Officer of Arts and Letters (won)
- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2015: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *Samba*
- César Award for Best Actor 2010: César Award for Best Actor (won), for *A Prophet*
- César Award for Best Male Revelation 2010: César Award for Best Male Revelation (won), for *A Prophet*
- European Film Award for Best Actor 2009: European Film Award for Best Actor (won), for *A Prophet*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/tahar-rahim