Alexander Siddig

Siddig el-Fadil (born 21 November 1965) is a British actor and director, known professionally as Alexander Siddig. Siddig is best known for his roles as Dr. Julian Bashir in the television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad in the sixth season of the series '' 24'', Doran Martell in ''Game of Thrones'', Ra's al Ghul in '' Gotham'', and Philip Burton in '' Primeval''. He also starred in the films ''Syriana'' (2005), ''Hannibal'' (2006), '' A Lost Man'' (2007), '' Cairo Time'' (2009), and '' Inescapable'' (2012).

Early life and education

Siddig el-Tahir el-Fadil el-Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim el-Mahdi was born on 21 November 1965 in Omdurman, Sudan. His father, Tahir El Mahdi, was Sudanese; his mother, Gloria (née Taylor; d. 2001) was English. She was the older sister of actor Malcolm McDowell.

Siddig's parents met in the 1960s when his mother travelled to Sudan with a friend, who introduced her to Siddig's father. Siddig's father was a student at Cambridge University in the 1950s, and was proficient in English. Siddig's uncle Sadiq al-Mahdi was prime minister of Sudan from 19661967 and again from 19861989. Siddig is also the great-great-grandson of Muhammad Ahmad, a Nubian religious leader who was proclaimed the Mahdi by his disciples.

Siddig's mother remained in Sudan for three years and returned to London with Siddig and his father. Siddig was two years old at the time. Siddig initially spoke Arabic when he was a child, but by his second year of living in Britain, he had forgotten much of it. On the subject of his childhood, he stated in 2024, "I had a tough time at school and in my teens because being not-white in the UK during the 70s was prickly and you had to sort of negotiate that. I tried to push it aside, my race and my heritage … I would have had to go out of my way to be ethnic."

Siddig's mother worked as a model and theatrical press agent. In 1978, she married film director and producer Michael Birkett, who adopted Siddig. Thomas Birkett (b. 1982) is Siddig's half-brother.

Siddig attended St Lawrence College, Ramsgate. He also studied geography and anthropology for a year at University College London before enrolling at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Career

Siddig's first acting role was at the age of 14 in a non-speaking role, playing King Tut in a BBC children's production. After leaving LAMDA, Siddig worked in theatre as both an actor and director. Siddig's first television role was a Palestinian man in a British six-part miniseries called ''The Big Battalions'' (filmed in 1989 but released in 1992), and shortly afterward, he won the role of Prince Feisal in '' A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'', a 1990 telefilm sequel to '' Lawrence of Arabia'' starring Ralph Fiennes.

Siddig's role in ''A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia'' brought him to the attention of Rick Berman, executive producer of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1993). Berman originally considered Siddig for the role of Commander Benjamin Sisko, but decided in the end that Siddig was too young for the role and cast him as Dr. Julian Bashir. Siddig remained with ''Deep Space Nine'' for all seven seasons of the series. He also directed the episodes " Business as Usual" (1997) and " Profit and Lace" (1998). In 1995, Siddig also changed his stage name from Siddig El Fadil to Alexander Siddig.

After the completion of ''Deep Space Nine'' in 1999, Siddig began directing a film about the Soviet Night Witches. The film was never completed. Siddig told '' Bidoun'' magazine that demand for Islamic and Arabic character roles was increasing in both film and television after the September 11 attacks and that people began to approach him with projects within six months of the event. He played a mountain guide in the thriller film '' Vertical Limit'' (2000), starring Chris O'Donnell, and Ajay in the postapocalyptic science-fantasy film '' Reign of Fire'' (2002) starring Christian Bale. In 2003, Siddig played the role of an Algerian secret agent on the trail of Islamists in the controversial episode " Nest of Angels" of the British television show '' Spooks'' (known as ''MI-5'' in the US). Siddig appeared in a cameo role as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the film '' The Hamburg Cell'' that premiered the following year.

In 2005, Siddig returned to the live stage, playing the role of Doctor Scott in a production of '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' starring Kim Cattrall that played at the Comedy Theatre in London. That same year, Siddig appeared as Saladin's aide Imad in Ridley Scott's 2005 film '' Kingdom of Heaven'', and starred alongside George Clooney and Matt Damon as Prince Nasir in the film ''Syriana''.

Siddig played the title role in the BBC's 2006 telefilm ''Hannibal''. In 2007, he starred in '' A Lost Man'' (French title ''Un Homme Perdu'') a French-language film that screened at the Cannes Film Festival. That same year, he played the role of former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad in the sixth season of '' 24''.

In 2009, he co-starred with Patricia Clarkson in the award-winning film '' Cairo Time'' as Tareq Khalifa, an Egyptian who battles his attraction to his friend's wife. Directed by Canadian director Ruba Nadda, the film won the prize for "Best Canadian Feature Film" at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. He also played Jamal in Julian Schnabel’s 2010 film '' Miral''.

Siddig played Philip Burton in series four and five of the ITV science-fiction drama programme '' Primeval''; both series aired in 2011. In 2012, Siddig again worked with director Nadda and played the starring role as a Syrian-Canadian businessman in the film '' Inescapable'', which also starred Marisa Tomei and Joshua Jackson.

In 2013, Siddig narrated the BBC Two nature documentary series '' Wild Arabia'' and played the role of Minos in the first series of the BBC fantasy-adventure programme '' Atlantis''.

From 2013 to 2015, Siddig played Aslan Al-Rahim ("the Turk") in the BBC historical fantasy drama series '' Da Vinci's Demons''. In 2015 and 2016, he appeared in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''; Siddig played the role of Doran Martell, the ruling Prince of Dorne, in the series' fifth and sixth seasons. He also played Reuben Oliver, an artist and suitor of Polly Shelby, in the third season of the British series '' Peaky Blinders''. Siddig also provided the voice of Wolf, a character in the historical fantasy drama '' Tumanbay'' that aired on BBC Radio 4 between December 2015 and February 2016.

In 2017, Siddig joined the cast of the televisions series '' Gotham'' as League of Shadows leader Ra’s al Ghul and also played the part of Aristotle Onassis in the drama miniseries '' The Kennedys: After Camelot''.

In 2019, he appeared in the Netflix series '' The Spy'' as Ahmed Suidani, a Syrian security officer. That same year, he appeared as Issouf Al Moctar in the second season of the Fox (UK and Ireland) thriller series '' Deep State'', and voiced Avi Singh in '' Star Wars: The Bad Batch''.

Personal life

Siddig began a relationship with Nana Visitor whilst working on the set of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Their son, Django El Tahir El Siddig, was born on 16 September 1996 and Visitor's pregnancy was written into the storyline of ''Deep Space Nine''. Django is Siddig's first child and Visitor's second son. The couple married in 1997 and divorced in 2001.

Siddig met his second wife, Shana Collier, while filming ''Cairo Time'', for which she was an assistant producer; the couple married in 2015.

Siddig stated he was neither Christian nor Muslim in a 2001 letter to his fanclub, but in a 2004 letter described himself as having "quite recently (after nearly 40 years) discovered that he was Muslim".

In an April 2024 interview, Siddig described his sexuality as "not quite straight". He has described his hobbies as including cooking, woodworking, gardening and computer games.

While filming ''Deep Space Nine'' he resided in Los Angeles; afterwards he relocated to New York City with his family. As of 2018, he resides in Massachusetts with his wife.

Filmography

Film

Television series

References

Notes

Citations

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddig, Alexander
1965 births
Al-Mahdi family
People from Omdurman
English male film actors
English male television actors
English male voice actors
Sudanese people of British descent
Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Living people
Hashemite people
English people of Sudanese descent
People educated at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate
Alumni of University College London
Sudanese emigrants to the United Kingdom
Male actors from Kent
21st-century Sudanese male actors
20th-century Sudanese male actors
British LGBTQ male actors
Sudanese LGBTQ actors
Sudanese male actors
21st-century English LGBTQ people
20th-century English LGBTQ people