Top Actors
Just a list of the actors who have appeared in three or more of the films on my list, ranked according to the number of appearances, not according to any favouritism! If I’ve missed someone, please let me know :~) It’s in the nature of things, as discussed elsewhere, that Palestinian actors constitute a relatively small pool, and that is the reason why the top end of the list is dominated by them. The same actors tend to turn up again and again, sometimes as the Arab characters (in major or “token” roles) in Israeli films, as well as in the relatively small number of Palestinian films which manage to get made in the face of all the obvious difficulties. Quite remarkably, one of the Palestinian actors, Yussuf Abu Warda (the father of Layla in Habibi) plays a Haredi rabbi in Amos Gitai’s Kadosh. That’s some kind of range!
As things stand, Saleh Bakri gets the honour of being classified as the most prolific Arab/Palestinian actor and most prolific overall. That’s him on the left of the picture, appearing in The Band’s Visit, alongside two others on this list, Ronit Elkabetz and Sasson Gabai.
Lior Ashkenazi is the most prolific Israeli-Jewish actor on the list. I’m clarifying that distinction, because like all the other Palestinian actors on the list (I think), Bakri is also an Israeli citizen. The last I checked, anyway - times are crazy, and things can change.
(Update - Saleh Bakri’s position of dominance has seen itself challenged by Ali Suliman, who kind of crept up on the inside. Let’s see how that goes, as I keep discovering films to add to the list. However, if you add Saleh to his father Mohammad - also on the list - plus his two brothers, who are also actors and one of whom appears in at least one film on this list, the Bakri family wins the competition hands down)
Saleh Bakri
صلح بكري
- The Band's Visit
- Salt of this Sea
- The Time That Remains
- When I Saw You
- Giraffada
- Wajib
- Bomboné
- The Present
- Amira
- Costa Brava, Lebanon
- The Blue Caftan
Ali Suliman
علي سليمان
- The Syrian Bride
- Paradise Now
- Lemon Tree
- Pomegranates and Myrrh
- The Attack
- A Borrowed Identity
- It Must Be Heaven
- 200 Metres
- Farha
- Amira
- Huda's Salon
Lior Ashkenazi
ליאור אשכנזי
- Late Marriage
- Walk on Water
- The Bubble
- Footnote
- Yossi
- Big Bad Wolves
- Norman
- Foxtrot
- Golda
Hiam Abbass
هيام عباس
- The Syrian Bride
- Paradise Now
- Free Zone
- Disengagement
- Lemon Tree
- Pomegranates and Myrrh
- Rock the Casbah
- Insyriated
Yussuf Abu-Warda
يوسف أبو وردة
- Wedding in Galilee
- Kadosh
- Kedma
- Promised Land
- Disengagement
- Habibi
- 3000 Nights
Maisa Abd Elhadi
ميساء عبد الهادي
- Habibi
- Eyes of a Thief
- 3000 Nights
- Junction 48
- Tel Aviv on Fire
- Huda's Salon
Makram Khoury
مكرم خوري
- Wedding in Galilee
- The Syrian Bride
- Free Zone
- Lemon Tree
- Farewell Baghdad
- Wajib
Ronit Elkabetz
רונית אלקבץ
- Late Marriage
- To Take a Wife
- The Band's Visit
- Shiv'a
- Gett – The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Orly Silbersatz Banai
אורלי זילברשץ
- The Song of the Siren
- Saint Clara
- Broken Wings
- Intimate Grammar
- Yossi
Menashe Noy
מנשה נוי
- Saint Clara
- The Time That Remains
- Policeman
- Big Bad Wolves
- Gett – The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
