--- name: "Zain Al Rafeea" canonical: "https://film.one/person/zain-al-rafeea" fi1m_id: "zain-al-rafeea" imdb_id: "nm9862858" tmdb_id: 2084595 wikidata_id: "Q53761485" roles: ["Actor"] born: "10 October 2004" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 68 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-19T12:17:00.015095+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." --- # Zain Al Rafeea ## Identity Zain Al Rafeea - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/zain-al-rafeea - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** zain-al-rafeea - **IMDb ID:** nm9862858 - **TMDB ID:** 2084595 - **Wikidata ID:** Q53761485 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zain_Al_Rafeea, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q53761485, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9862858/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2084595 Actor. Born 10 October 2004 in Daraa, Syria. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 10 October 2004, Daraa, Syria - **Active:** 2018–present - **Also known as:** زين الرفاعي - **Average Fi1m score:** 68, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 80 (1), 2020s 57 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zain_Al_Rafeea, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q53761485, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9862858/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2084595 ## Fi1m on Zain Al Rafeea > Zain Al Rafeea gives *Capernaum* its angry centre and its most convincing tenderness. We rate that performance highly; the smaller roles that followed leave open the question of what he could do with a different kind of lead. In *Capernaum* (2018), Zain Al Rafeea plays a boy who has little reason to be impressed by adults. His anger seems a sensible response to what is happening around him, and we believe he has had to learn quickly how people behave. He is resilient without making hardship look character-building. That matters in a film which asks us to spend so much time with a child in distress. Al Rafeea gives Zain enough will of his own to keep him from becoming merely an object of pity. Nadine Labaki gives him room to carry scenes through the force of his personality. For this breakthrough lead role, he improvised lines during a long shoot conducted in chronological order. That process helps explain why his responses feel so immediate, though the result should not be waved away as a child simply being himself. We can follow his suspicion of adults without losing sight of how vulnerable he is. He makes those feelings clear without tidying them into a reassuring portrait of a brave boy. We were moved by his care for the baby, because the tenderness never makes the boy's anger seem less credible. Al Rafeea allows both feelings to belong to the same child, rather than presenting kindness as proof that he deserves our sympathy. Labaki is less restrained in the courtroom scenes, which press a point the performance has already made. It is a frustrating intrusion in a film with so persuasive a lead. The parts that followed were smaller: a Mesopotamian young man in *Eternals* (2021), then Adam in *The Sand Castle* (2024). Those credits do not give us grounds to assume he can carry any kind of film, and we would rather leave the question open than invent a progression. A substantial role with less suffering built into it would tell us more than another part requiring this particular toughness. Begin with *Capernaum* for the actor, and be prepared for the courtroom. ## Biography Zain Al Rafeea is a Syrian actor. He is best known for his leading role as Zain in the 2018 Lebanese film *Capernaum*, directed by Nadine Labaki. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Born on 10 October 2004 in Daraa, Syria, Al Rafeea moved with his family to Lebanon in 2012 as a refugee. He grew up in the slums of Beirut and had no prior acting experience when discovered by Labaki for the film. In 2018, he and his family relocated to Norway, where he began attending school in Hammerfest. He received a Norwegian passport. Al Rafeea appeared as a Mesopotamian Young Man in the 2021 film *Eternals* and as Adam in the 2024 film *The Sand Castle*. For *Capernaum*, he won Best Actor at the 2018 International Antalya Film Festival and was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Performance by an Actor. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, themoviedb.org.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Eternals* (2021), Fi1m 57, as Mesopotamian Young Man — [page](https://film.one/film/eternals.md) - *Capernaum* (2018), Fi1m 80, as Zain — [page](https://film.one/film/capernaum.md) ## Complete filmography (3) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Sand Castle* (2024), as Adam - *Eternals* (2021), as Mesopotamian Young Man — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/eternals.md) - *Capernaum* (2018), as Zain — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/capernaum.md) ## Gallery - ![festival de Cannes (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-d41869536e5c.jpg) festival de Cannes (2018) — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Cannes_2018_25.jpg/1280px-Cannes_2018_25.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Cérémonie de clôture du festival de Cannes (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-43794c854148.jpg) Cérémonie de clôture du festival de Cannes (2018) — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Cannes_2018_37.jpg/1280px-Cannes_2018_37.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Cérémonie de clôture du festival de Cannes (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-40f46cb0412a.jpg) Cérémonie de clôture du festival de Cannes (2018) — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Cannes_2018_38.jpg/1280px-Cannes_2018_38.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Zain Al Rafeea](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-efce6c585360.jpg) Zain Al Rafeea — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Zain_al-Rafeea_Cannes_2018.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Zain Al Rafeea](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-f1a8d60a1ddc.jpg) Zain Al Rafeea — Image via TMDB - ![Zain Al Rafeea](https://film.one/media/person/103276/gallery-ed8653900790.jpg) Zain Al Rafeea — Image via TMDB --- © 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/zain-al-rafeea