A major figure in cinema and television in Morocco for several years, Rabie Kati has become in recent weeks a true symbol of pop culture in the Kingdom and even beyond. Portrait of an actor who is both eccentric and endearing and who fully embraces his qualities.
“Once, a director rejected me from a casting call because I was too good-looking for the role according to her.” It is always with the same self-confidence pushed to the extreme, imbued with a lot of good humor and kindness which make her rather endearing, that Rabie Kati confides in Maroc Hebdo. And it is this same self-confidence that has continued to shape the actor’s career for more than 20 years, making him a star like no other in Morocco. An eccentric character in his manners, his speech sprinkled with literary Arabic language, and his handsome boy look always well dressed, who enjoys immense capital sympathy with the public.
Real phenomenon
But the Rabie Kati phenomenon, since it is indeed a phenomenon, has just taken on a whole new dimension after its appearance, at the beginning of April 2024, on Chahrazad Akroud’s show on 2M. Questioned by the latter about his “dominant personality similar to a lion”, the actor enjoys in his response citing highly sought-after synonyms for the animal in the literary Arabic language. Words that definitely exist, but whose bizarre sound did not fail to provoke a reaction. Millions of Internet users relay the sequence, while global entities, such as football clubs, FC Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain take up the actor’s comments on their social networks. “It is not the first time. I have always attracted attention and created buzz but in a positive sense,” he tells us. The sequence is so viral that the lion brand, Peugeot, called on the actor for an advertisement for its cars using the same iconic terms pronounced in the original video. “It is the baraka of attachment to the Arabic language. It’s a blessed language I tell you! It is the language chosen by God for his ultimate message to humanity,” he says.
He added that “we live in a country where Arabic is an official language. We must not hide it, we must be proud of it. But I am also proud of the Amazigh and African dimensions, which give me a rich, solid identity that is immune to any negative foreign influence.” Rabie Kati has cultivated this love of the Arabic language since his childhood at Koranic school. Born on January 24, 1977 in Taza, he is the youngest of seven siblings whose father, a soldier in the Royal Armed Forces, was always aware of the importance of education and openness to art. and culture. Proof of this is that Rabie is not the only artist in the group: his brother, Farid, is a career singer.
Aware of his potential and his artistic inclination, the young Rabie, then barely 23 years old, chose the academic path to realize his dream of becoming an actor. He then joined the Higher Institute of Dramatic Art and Cultural Animation (ISADAC) in Rabat, from where he graduated in 2004 after four years of study. In the meantime, the young Rabie, still a student, was already noticed thanks to his talent and his originality by producers in his first year of student but refused several offers to be able to concentrate on his studies and develop his skills. “I also refused because I didn’t want to start my career with a secondary role. I wanted to start very strong and make an impression,” he tells us.
Arabic in the skin
A wish that came true in his second year at ISADAC: the young budding actor played the main role in the television series Chajarat Zaouia (The mausoleum tree, in French) which will be broadcast on the first national channel in 2003 and will enjoy immense success with the Moroccan public. However, what happens next will not always be as ideal as the beginnings Rabie dreamed of. “I am different from others. When you are different, you are fought and obstacles and difficulties arise before you,” sighs the actor. “Sometimes, during castings, I heard “He has to break and go play in Spain or Italy with that look”, “He’s too good-looking for this role””, he tells us with nostalgia.
But Rabie Kati, married since 2013 and father of a child, does not give up and fully embraces his originality with courage. A bet that he will eventually win. Thus, the mockery which depicts him as competent and capable of attracting the spotlight while remaining “attached” to Moroccan values, in an era where many national stars are singled out for their “moral misguidedness” in their quest for buzz .
Originality assumed
And this is only justice according to Rabie Kati, given his immense career. In more than twenty years of career, the actor has accumulated several dozen films, series and other works, both Moroccan and Arab, European or American, and has won several distinctions such as the best actor prize at the festival. Spetimus in Libya in 2020 for his main role in the Arabic series “El Zaaiman” where he played the character of the great Libyan personality Suleiman Bacha El Barouni. “I aim for my performances to be world class. I don’t want to remain compartmentalized in a purely national dimension,” he explains to us. “For the record, I have never been rejected in a casting run by a foreign producer, which is not always the case with my dear compatriots”, he asserts with humor, and above all with confidence in itself that the public knows him so well and that we felt throughout our exchange.
