Alexander Siddig

Biography

Siddig was born in Sudan but has spent most of his life in England. He was born to an English mother who worked as a theatrical consultant and a Sudanese father. His maternal uncle is English actor Malcolm McDowell, with whom he appeared in 2008 in Neil Marshall's Doomsday, and his paternal uncle is the former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. He is a great-great-grandson of Muhammad Ahmad. He attended St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, Kent. He was credited under the shortened name Siddig El Fadil until October 1995, three seasons into his run on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, when he changed his stage name to Alexander Siddig (stating in an interview that 'Alexander' was chosen at random). On set, he became known as Sid.

Career

Siddig attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to study acting and, after leaving LAMDA, did a season of stage work in Manchester. He also worked as a director in a small theatre in London. Siddig first appeared to television audiences as Prince Feisal in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia, the 1990 TV sequel to Lawrence of Arabia.

Siddig's performance in A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992) brought him to the attention of Rick Berman, who was creating the new series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993). Although he originally auditioned for the role of Commander Benjamin Sisko, Berman decided Siddig was too young for the role and cast him as Dr. Julian Bashir instead. The part had to be slightly rewritten for Siddig as the original "bible" had called for a Hispanic male named Julian Amoros to play the part, although Berman reports that no other actors were considered for the role.

Since the end of the seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine appeared as an Algerian secret agent on the trail of Islamists in the controversial episode "Nest of Angels" of the British television show Spooks (known as MI-5 in the US) in 2003. In 2005, he appeared as Saladin's aide, Imad, in Ridley Scott's film Kingdom of Heaven. He gave a critically lauded performance as Prince Nasir in Syriana, alongside George Clooney and Matt Damon. He played the title role in 2006's Hannibal – Rome's Worst Nightmare for the BBC (UK). Early 2007, Siddig joined the cast of Un Homme Perdu (aka A Lost Man) and he returned to American television in the role of former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad for the sixth season of 24. In 2009, he co-starred with Patricia Clarkson in the award-winning film Cairo Time (2009) as Tareq Khalifa, an Egyptian who battles his attraction to his friend's wife.

In August 2010, he expressed his doubts about resurrecting his character, Dr. Julian Bashir, from Deep Space Nine, stating that he has "other ambitions".

In 2013, Siddig appeared as a Syrian-Canadian in the IFC film Inescapable with Marisa Tomei and Joshua Jackson, and as King Minos in the BBC show Atlantis.

In 2015 appeared in HBO series Game of Thrones in season 5 and season 6 as Doran Martell, the ruling Prince of Dorne.

Siddig's roles have often called for him to act out many different accents: he used received pronunciation (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Cockney (Reign of Fire), and an Algerian accent (Spooks) among others. He has also given performances in Arabic as the role required (Spooks, Syriana, 24, Inescapable, Un Homme Perdu) as well as French (Un Homme Perdu).

Other appearances

Personal life

In 1996, Siddig and his co-star Nana Visitor started dating and the couple were married June 1997; their son, Django El Tahir El Siddig, was born on 16 September 1996. They divorced in 2001.