Dhaffer L’Abidine was born in Tunisia and, after leaving school, played professional football in the Tunisian league. However he decided that he wanted to take up acting and travelled to Britain, and studied at the Birmingham School of Acting, from where he graduated in 2002. A year later he was in the television soap ‘Dream Team’ where, appropriately he was cast as the captain of a football team, and has had marked success as an actor in both the UK and in the Middle East. Dhaffer is an accomplished linguist and speaks Arabic, French and Spanish. Read on, in this exclusive DG interview...

Who is Dhaffer L’Abidine?
I am a Tunisian actor; I started to work as an assistant director for more than a year and then moved to commercials, I worked in several commercials inside and outside Tunisia. I was offered a commercial in England and after shooting it, I started studying at the Birmingham school of speech and drama, graduated year 2002, it is a Diploma in professional acting study. Before graduation I casted at an English series called dream team. I acted for two seasons at this series, and from there I started as a professional actor in Tunisia and later in Egypt.

Talk to us about your start here in Egypt?
Well my start was in a series called “Vertigo” with Hend Sabry four years ago. I have worked with Hend before in Tunisia, and when they were casting for Vertigo, she nominated me and thanks to God I was accepted. I always wanted to act in Egypt but I wanted the start strong and right. Thanks to God, Vertigo was a right choice.. And then I acted in “ Niran Sadeeqa”,” Farq Tawqeet” and finally” Taht El Saytra”.

“I started to work as an assistant director for more than a year and then moved to commercials”.

“Taht el Saytra”, it is the hit of this year, what would you like to say about it?
This series introduced me again to people. I am so happy to be among such successful work and cast, starting from the smallest worker till Tamer Mohsen, the maestro of this work. It was an honor to be with Nelly Karim, Mariam Naom, and everyone else who participated in this series. When you watch this series, you have to learn something, you have to get a lesson from it, and this is what drama should do. All the roles were great and thanks to God all the actors excelled in their roles and among them my role. For my role I was happy that people loved me first and then turned to get upset from me as the character was changing and the people were reacting to all the phases of the character and that is the true success of any role, to keep following it and react to it. “Taht El Saytra” taught us all a lot of things about addiction and how it is a disease and how to deal with it.

Moving to the cinema industry, how do you see it and why haven’t we seen you in any movies so far?
Due to the current political situation and the revolutions all over the Middle East, most Cinema producers turned to TV production as there was almost no work in Cinema. Also we can’t deny that TV has become so advanced and the picture became so high in quality to the extent that you feel as if you are watching a movie not a TV series. At the same time who would not want to have Cinema history, and participate in good movies. I was offered some roles but wasn’t free at that time but I am planning to concentrate more in Cinema the coming days and to have a good start.

“I was happy that people loved me first and then turned to get upset from me”.

What is the difference between acting here in the Middle East and acting abroad?
Well, there are still differences in the quality of the work, as we want here to have good quality but in short time and that can’t be. Abroad they give everything its right time so eventually they get what they want. Of course things are getting much better here but we still need more time. I also have to say that here we have very good and talented directors, writers, actors, D.O.Ps, everything but we just need more time and enough budget to revealthe best work. We also need to take into consideration the fine details -- as it counts a lot.

How do you see the current political situation in the Middle East, are you optimistic?
I am optimistic by nature, and yes thank God I feel good about Egypt and Tunisia as they surpassed a very crucial phase and heading forward. Hopefully the rest of the countries will reach peace as well and pass this bad phase. What we need here in the Middle East is good education and health programs. These are long term plans I know, but we have to start working hard on them to reach our goals. And we have to know that the harvest of revolutions needs time.

“I am optimistic by nature, and yes thank God I feel good about Egypt and Tunisia”.

What is the role of the artist to serve his/her country?
I feel that the most important role for any artist in any field is to be responsible, and to know what to say and when to say it. To be responsible about your actions and, work. I believe so because if you have a lot of fans, they will follow you and take you as an idol. And from this point, you can serve your country by conveying a right and honest message to the people and help in fixing your society. Concerning the political role of an artist, if someone understands politics and can serve his country, why not, but if not I don’t like talking in something that you
don’t understand well.

Finally I would like to thank you for this interview and hope you liked it.
I did a lot, a big thanks for DG magazine and regards to all my fans everywhere.

“I feel that the most important role for any artist in any field is to be responsible”.

By: Dalia Mohamed