Yousef Sweid


Yousef "Joe" Sweid is an Arab-Israeli actor and dancer.

Life and career

Sweid was born in Haifa, Israel, to an Arab-Christian family. He is a graduate of the theater department at Tel Aviv University, and took his first steps in theater when he joined the Arab-Hebrew Theater in Jaffa. He went on to participate in television shows including Dancing again tonight, Lane of White Chairs, Oh Brother Boom Boom, Dragon, and Immigrants.
On stage, he performed alongside Ruth Kanner in 2001's Things You See Here Do Not See From There; in 2002 he appeared in Sea Shadow.
Sweid also participated in the international production The Time We Did Not Know Anything About Each Other, and in the dance production Barefoot. In 2001 he became director of a community theater program for both Arabs and Jews in Ramallah.
In 2016 he joined the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 6 as a Meereenese freedman.

Personal life

Sweid was married to Jewish-Israeli Yael Ronen, a director at the Cameri Theatre. They had a son in 2009. In 2015 they divorced. In 2018, he married to Jewish-Israeli television host Adi Shilon. Their daughter was born in October 2019.
Sweid also resides in Berlin, Germany.

Filmography

Sweid also animates the puppet Mahboob in Sesame Street on Israel's Hop! channel.