after a first role in “Faire avec”, Zakaria El Baialy will make her theater debut

Almost four years after walking the red carpet at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes with the team of the film “Supremes” in July 2021, Zakaria El Baialy always has stars in his eyes.

“Finding myself at 20 years old climbing the stairs, it was a magical moment,” confides the young actor, back for a few days at Gaillon (Your).

The character of Mehdi that he plays in the feature film which traces the early years of the NTM group opened doors for him.

Since then, Zakaria has notably played important roles in several short films: “Trigger” by Rodrigue Huart released in 2022 and “Pibales” by Adrien Benoliel in 2024.

“In Pibales, I am part of a group of young people who are at sea and who do nothing with their lives. At one point there’s a rap festival and they’re going to break into rap. There’s only one guy who’s good and it’s not me. »

He also lent his voice to the animated short film “Prends chair” broadcast on MyCanal. “I loved doing that,” he says, ready to repeat the experience.

In the short film “Faire avec”, he plays a young Syrian refugee

Following “Pibales”, he was spotted and offered in 2023 the casting of “Faire avec”, a short film by Joséphine Maacci.

After having completed the seven stages, Zakaria El Baialy is selected to play the role of Yassin.

With Magaajyia silver fieldthey play the main roles. Which led him to film for around fifty days in Paris, the region of Cergy-Pontoise and Montfermeil.

“I really liked the story the director tells. He is a young Syrian who comes to France, who loses his brother on the road. He arrives with demons in his head, he does anything and an educator played by Magaajyia Silberfeld asks him to come to the home in which she works. Everything is going well for him until the town hall decides to close the home. She will try everything to prevent it, even if it means questioning her hierarchy and finding herself isolated. »

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The short film, selected and awarded in several festivals, will be presented in preview at Rouen (Seine-Maritime) on Tuesday February 4, 2025.

At the theater with “Life Before You” in March

In 2025, he will have other cinema projects. But it’s a completely different challenge that will present itself to him in this new year.

Zakaria El Baialy will make her stage debut at the Théâtre Marigny in “La vie avant soi”.

This adaptation of the novel which won the Prix Goncourt for Romain Garyis directed by Didier Longwho spotted Zakaria in “Dealing With.”

“He contacted my agent after seeing a preview. What Didier likes about me is that I look a lot like Momo so I don’t have to add anything. However, I need to work on emotions. »

From March, the 23-year-old Gaillonnais will share the stage with Myriam Boyerwhich portrays Madame Rosa, a former prostitute and old resident of Belleville, who will experience a filial love story with one of her protégés, a young orphan Arab.

In the meantime, between two promotions of the short film, Zakaria rehearses, learns his text.

“The difference with cinema is that in a film I can learn my lines day by day. There I have to know it in full and say it in front of an audience. I don’t know that myself. »

But he takes this role very seriously, with always the same ambition: to make an impression.

He only dreams of one thing, one day returning to the Cannes Film Festival. “The Cannes Film Festival is the Champions League. »

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