For anyone who’s ever glanced at our magazine, the name Dhafer L’Abidine will come as no stranger. The Tunisian actor (and footballer, model, director) feels like he was born too late, and would be better suited acting beside Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant in some John Huston picture from Hollywood’s golden age. But alas, we feel very spoiled to have him in ours.
Dhafer recently joined the second season of the stratospheric family drama Finding Ola, starring alongside lead actress Hend Sabry for the second time, as they first shared the screen together in 2017’s Halawet El Dunia. The first season boasts a perfect 100% score on film critic site, rottentomatoes, and continues with Ola’s (Sabry) journey of running a business, a family, and the sudden coincidences (Dhafer) she meets along the way.
The show premieres today, September 26, on Netflix, and we caught up with the Tunisian actor to get his thoughts on his new series, personal identity, and working alongside Alfonso Cuaron.
Esquire: Finding Ola Season 1 has garnered a very dedicated following. Do you feel nervous jumping into the second season as the new guy?
Dhafer L’Abidine: Of course it’s always hard. It’s exciting, nerving. When you join a new show, everyone is starting from scratch, they have nothing to base anything on. But when you join a new show alongside a cast that has been immersed in this universe for many years, you suddenly have to adapt to this new world. The first scene we shot was a dinner scene with the entire cast, and they’ve all established these relationships, and here I was as the new guy. But the truth is, I felt completely at home. It made things much much easier and a lot more fun. And this all comes back to the fact that the cast is just amazing. They’re really an entire family, and they were so welcoming. It made it much easier to get into the role.
Esquire: Aside from watching Season 1, what kind of research did you do to get into the role?
DL: Yes, I watched the first season, but you kind of have to forget about all that, because your character doesn’t know anything about season one. He doesn’t know the rest of the team. But what’s been helpful for me is that I live abroad myself. I’ve lived in the UK for over 20 years, and my character has a father who is Egyptian, a mother who is French, and he lived most of his life in France, before finally going back to Egypt. So he’s someone who’s an outsider from the culture. And I think for me, being Tunisian but living in the UK, I have lived that. I understand how he feels, how he has to adapt. When you travel a lot. When you experience different cultures, it really helps you as an actor.
Esquire: We recently had Yasmina El-Abd in the studio. How was it acting alongside her?
DL: She was great. She can dance. Act. Sing. She does it all. And it’s so great getting to see these young, up and coming actors who have such a love for the craft.
Esquire: You were in Children of Men (2006), which is one of my favourites, a sentiment I’m sure shared by anyone who’s seen it. What was that experience like, and what was it like working with Alfonso Cuaron.
DL: (laughs) I was! That was actually my first job out of drama school. I was very fortunate. I didn’t have a very big role, but I was there for a month. I wasn’t filming every day, but I was on set every day. And to be with Alfonso Cuaron, and this amazing cast – Michael Caine, Clive Owen – it was so great to be there, and to learn. And the great thing about that film is that it’s almost twenty years old, and yet it looks so up to date. Like it was filmed yesterday. I remember these sequences we’d film, these very intense action takes, and some of them would last five minutes. For a single take! It’s just so cool. And the story itself, how it predicts the future. It’s just so unbelievably smart. And despite having a small role, I feel so incredibly proud to have been a part of that film. And when you see films like this, when you experience them, especially as a young actor, it opens your eyes to the standard of certain productions, and what is possible in film. You get much higher aspirations for yourself because you realise you want to be there, in those surroundings, all the time. You want to work with people that are that professional, that talented. It was an incredible experience and it effected me greatly.
Finding Ola Season 2 is now available on Netflix.
