Faisal Hamza

Faisal Hamza is an actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and engineering dropout.

He is an Iraqi-Australian born in Jordan, raised in Perth, who also lived briefly in Qatar and Brisbane. Hopping between different countries, cultures, cities, schools and soccer clubs exposed Faisal to a lot of questions, joys and contradictions. Discovering performance in high school gave him an opportunity to explore it all through story.

At university, instead of studying for his Mechanical Engineering degree, Faisal participated in original student productions ranging from dramas to sketch comedies. There, his passion for storytelling expanded to writing and directing. He created two original full-length plays, including BOOM, a dark comedy about a misguided entrepreneur who starts a merchandise store at the foot of an active volcano.

Faisal is a passionate FC Barcelona supporter, proud U14 Junior Football Division C champion, and energetic bedroom DJ. He has a deep love of cinema and sincerely hopes Tewfik Saleh’s The Dupes (1972) is released on DVD, so he can buy it immediately.

As someone who has been described as looking more Irish than Arab, sounding American to Australians and Australian to his family, Faisal hopes to play roles that suit his proven versatility.

This year, Faisal made his television debut as the cheeky footballer Mahdi in the ABC’s groundbreaking Iraqi-Australian production, House of Gods. He played the brutal social enforcer B-Boy in the critically acclaimed sold out run of ALL BOYS at KXT. And, next year, Faisal will be making his mainstage debut as Freddie Miles in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Talented Mr. Ripley.

Faisal also wishes to state on behalf of his Mum that he is technically on ‘approved leave’ and can return to his engineering degree whenever he likes.

NIDA Productions

Image credits
Image 1: Photography by Robert Miniter
Image 2: Photography by Robert Miniter
Image 3: Photography by Phil Erbacher
Image 4: Photography by Phil Erbacher