Biografia
Nadim Joakim Sawalha was born in Madaba, Jordan, into a family of Christian Bedouins, one of two brothers, the other being comedian Nabil Sawalha. He attended an English school, where his interest in acting first emerged. In the early 1950s, Sawalha moved to London and took drama classes. However, he struggled to find work for several years due to not having a work permit. Eventually, he was employed by the BBC Arabic Service, obtained his work permit, and advanced to the role of drama producer. After five years, he left the position to focus on stage acting, explaining, "I was aspiring to learn the craft of an actor, not just aiming for film." Over time, Sawalha became one of the first actors of Arabic descent to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre, and the National Theatre in London.
On screen, he was often cast as Middle Eastern characters, frequently appearing in television series such as Sexton Blake (1967), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971), The Sweeney (1975), The Professionals (1977), and Murphy's Law (2003), among others. When not cast as Arabs, he played Indian roles, noting, "In the 1960s and 1970s the industry was doing very little on the Middle East. There were a lot of Indian roles though, so I went and taught myself how to speak with a South Asian accent. People started to think I actually was Indian!"
Sawalha's first film role came with A Touch of Class (1973), thanks to writer/director Melvin Frank, who cast him after a Greek actor originally slated for the role left. This led to roles in notable films such as The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), The Wind and the Lion (1975), Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), and Pascali's Island (1988). He also appeared in two James Bond films: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), as the ill-fated Egyptian arms dealer Aziz Fekkesh, and The Living Daylights (1987), as the Tangier Chief of Security. Additionally, he portrayed billionaire businessman Mohammed Al-Fayed in the TV movies Justice in Wonderland (2000) and Diana: Last Days of a Princess (2007), as well as King Hussein of Jordan in the docu-drama miniseries House of Saddam (2008).
Maintaining strong connections to his homeland, Sawalha frequently returns to Jordan to visit family and friends. In 2007, he starred as a humble airport janitor who, upon finding a Royal Jordanian captain’s hat discarded in the trash, impersonates an airline pilot in Captain Abu Raed (2007). This film, the first produced in Jordan in fifty years, won several awards, including two Best Actor honors for Sawalha at the Newport and Dubai Film Festivals.
Nadim Sawalha has three daughters with his wife Roberta Mary Lane, whom he married in 1961: Dina Sawalha and actresses Julia Sawalha and Nadia Sawalha.
