Mehdi Dehbi (born 5 December 1985) is a Belgian actor and theatre director, known for his roles in (2009, English title: He is My Girl), (2011), Le Fils de l'Autre (2012, English title: The Other Son), Mary Queen of Scots (2013), and A Most Wanted Man (2014). In 2020, he played the title role in the Netflix series Messiah.
Early life Mehdi Dehbi was born on 5 December 1985 in the in Liège, to a family of Tunisian origin. From the age of ten, Dehbi attended the theater and music school, which had been established in the hospital building where he had been born.
At the age of sixteen his first lead role in a feature film was in The Assassinated Sun, directed by Abdelkrim Bahloul and produced by the Dardenne brothers, for which he was nominated as Best Actor at the Joseph Plateau Awards.
After studying drama and music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, then at the CNSAD in Paris, and finally at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he pursued his career in film and theater.
In 2012 Mehdi directed his first play, Les Justes by Albert Camus at the Théâtre de Liège. The show toured in France and Germany in 2013 and in 2014 Mehdi Dehbi was nominated for the (Discovery) Prize at the 2014 awards as a director.
Film Year Title Role Director Notes 2004 The Assassinated Sun Hamid Abdelkrim Bahloul Nominated – Joseph Plateau Award for Best Belgian Actor2006BourreauLe SuicidéFrédérick VinShort 2009 La Folle Histoire d'amour de Simon Eskenazy Naïm Jean-Jacques Zilbermann 2010 Sweet Valentine Pierre Emma Luchini 2011 Looking for Simon Jalil Jan Krüger 2012 The Other Son Yacine Al Bezaaz Lorraine Lévy International Film Festival of Boulogne-Billancourt - Best Actor2013 Le sac de farine Nari Kadija Leclere Nominated – Magritte Award for Most Promising Actor Je ne suis pas mort Yacine Mehdi Ben Attia 2014 Lili Rose Samir Bruno Ballouard A Most Wanted Man Jamal Abdullah Anton Corbijn Mary Queen of ScotsDavid RizzioThomas Imbach 2015 Another South Khaleed Gianluca Maria Tavarelli 2016 London Has Fallen Sultan MansoorBabak Najafi 2018MescalineMehdiShort 2022 Boy from Heaven Zizo Tarik Saleh Nominated - Magritte Award for Best Supporting Actor 2023 Animalia Amine Sofia Alaoui 2025 Ambleside Krishna Mitch Jenkins TBA Baron Day Barracks Muhammad Joah Jordan Filming
Television Year Title Role Director Notes 2007 Guillaume Luc Boland, André Chandelle, ... TV series (10 episodes) 2011 Issam Mourad Giacomo Battiato TV Movie Biarritz Film Festival - Golden Fipa for Best Actor 2014-15 Tyrant Abdul Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Michael Lehmann, ... TV series (11 episodes) 2020 Messiah Al-Masih James McTeigue & Kate Woods TV series (10 episodes)
Theatre Year Title Author Director 2007 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare John Baxter 2009 Terre Sainte Mohamed Kacimi Sophie Akrich 2009-10 Baïbars le mamelouk qui devint sultan Marcel Bozonnet Marcel Bozonnet 2010 Splendid's Jean Genet Cristèle Alves Meira 2011 Gare de l'Est Sophie Akrich Sophie Akrich 2012 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare
Theatre directing +YearTitleAuthorNotes2012-14Les JustesAlbert CamusThéâtre de Liège, (Brussels), (Aix-en-Provence), Fast Forward Theater Festival (Braunschweig)Nominated for the Découverte Prize at the 2014
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