Assaf was born in Lebanon, son of Joseph Assaf and Rosette Brunas. His father was Lebanese and his mother was French. He studied in Frères School, Furn el Chebbak, then in Frères Jemmayzé. He studied medicine at Université Saint Joseph for four years, but left studies to consecrate himself to acting. At age 12, he landed an acting role in a play directed by Henri Khayyat. He established a university theatre center stagingexperimental plays. He collaborated in television stagings with Jean-Claude Boulos, Antoine Remé, Elias Matta and Antoine Machhour. In 1963, he received a grant from the French Embassy in Lebanon to study acting inStrasbourg, France. In 1965, he was part of the renaissance of Lebanese theatre and in 1966, he was a co-founder of the College of Arts in the Lebanese University, establishing المركز المسرحي الجامعي. He was also one of the co-founders of Theatre de Beyrouth in Ain Mreissé, Beirut where he had a great number of plays, as director and actor. His play Majdaloun about the Palestinian armed presence in South Lebanon was censored and stopped by the Lebanese authorities only after 3 days of its launch. He participated in plays with Gabriel Boustani, Jalal Khoury, Chakib Khoury, Yacoub Chedraoui, Hassan Alaa Eddin, the Rahbani Brothers and with Mounir Abou Debs. In 1968 he co-founded with Nidal al AchkarMuhtaraf Beirut lil Masrah. In 1979, he established his own hakawati house and in 2005, Duwwar el Chams Center for encouraging youth to be involved in theatre. In 1985, he published the book «المسرحة - أقنعة المدينة». Also in 1985, he produced the film Maaraka In 2007, he published the study «في العمل المسرحي والسياسي في لبنان» Assaf has won numerous prizes for his works including the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2008.
Personal life
Assaf married Marie-Claude Eddé. After divorce he married Hanane el Hajj Ali, and had four children with her, Zeinab, Ali, Mariam and Youssef. Born in a Christian family, he was active in francophony, was a Marxist and left wing activist, a supporter of the Palestinian Cause, and eventually converting to Islam in 1986.
