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Miami – At merely 8 years old, Moroccan American actor Samir Zaim-Sassi is dominating the film industry with his unique and natural acting skills.
The young actor from Connecticut works out of New York City and Los Angeles and has been playing different roles in the entertainment industry for three years.
It all started in 2019 in a waiting room for an audition his older brother had attended. Samir was there solely to wait while his brother auditioned, but the then 5-year-old actor caught the eye of a casting agent and was asked to audition for a part in a film. Samir uncannily thrived in this unexpected audition––launching the start of his acting career in America.
“This was definitely an unexpected audition,” his mother, Bouchra Lahnin, told Morocco World News (MWN) in an inclusive interview.
At the time, she explained, Samir did not know how to read, yet by no means did that stop him from going through with it.
With an unmatched resilience, Samir went on to receive auditions for significant roles in films and commercials at a very early age.
“I remember him telling me ‘I’ll just be myself’ and before we knew it, he grew more and more comfortable with auditions and was getting called for a plethora of roles,” she added.
Samir has been cast in a variety of short films such as Vishnu Vallabhaneni’s “1 out of 30,” where he directly worked with talented directors and artists like Malik Aziz and May Calamawy from the award-winning show Ramy.
“I got to work with amazing actors who have a lot of experience, make new amazing friends, and met so many talented people I look up to … all while getting to act in a short film,” recalls the young actor.
More recently, Samir has been cast in “No Longer Suitable for Use,” where played the son of Laith Nakli from the award-winning show “Ramy” and Waleed Zuaiter from the Netflix show “The Spy.”
The film was featured at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, which Samir attended as the youngest actor. “No Longer Suitable for Use” has since been nominated for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
The young Moroccan-American actor has also been cast in a variety of well-renowned brand commercials such as the Elmo Brite Brush commercial and Nintendo Switch advertising campaign.
In her interview with MWN, the young actor’s mother described the unique skills and physical features that have made Samir stand out and allowed him to play a variety of diverse roles in the industry.
Looking up to his older siblings who also pursued similar careers in the acting and modeling industry, Samir is setting a unique path for himself as the spotlight shines over his talent that he proudly attributes to his Moroccan culture and roots.
Described by several casting agencies as possessing an “exotic” look, Samir acknowledges this trait as a strength and privilege allowing him to take on diverse acting roles.
Although most of these roles are specific to characters of the MENA region, Samir’s mother insists that their very existence offers the young actor a special and much-needed platform to contribute to increasing the representation of people Moroccan- or Arab-looking people.
“Samir absolutely loves Morocco, our culture, and our roots and it makes him happy to be able to be cast in roles that are similar to those of Morocco,” she said.
