Dar Salim
Birthdate: Aug 18, 1977
Birthplace: Baghdad, Iraq
Dar Salim is a veteran actor well-known to Danish and Scandinavian television viewers. Salim’s feature debut was in director Omar Shargawi’s Danish action movie, Go with Peace, Jamil (2008), followed by roles in writer-director Oliver Ussing’s bullying drama, My Good Enemy (2010) (for which Salim was nominated for a Danish Bodil Award for best actor) and Thomas Vinterberg’s acclaimed drama, Submarino (2010), competing at the Berlin Film Festival.
Salim’s run of feature roles in the early phase of his career continued with supporting roles in such acclaimed films as writer-director Mikkel Munch-Fals’s Nothing’s All Bad (2010), winner of new filmmaker prizes at the San Sebastian and Palm Spring film festivals and nominations from Cameraimage and the European Film Awards, as well as director Nikolaj Arcel’s Danish comedy, Truth About Men (2010). Salim was cast in a more prominent supporting role in writer-director Heidi Maria Faisst’s Rebounce (2011), winner of the (Danish) Robert Award for best children’s film.
Salim’s debut in an English-language movie was with a major supporting role in the Belgian-Dutch production directed by Lee Tamahori, The Devil’s Double (2011), starring Dominic Cooper and Ludivine Sagnier and premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Another major supporting role was nabbed by Salim in the universally acclaimed thriller from writer-director Tobias Lindholm, A Hijacking (2012), premiering at the Venice Film Festival and grossing a strong $2.7 million globally.
Dar Salim’s first major Hollywood production was in Ridley Scott’s epic, Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver, and Ben Kingsley, and earning $268 million worldwide. Salim reunited with filmmaker Lindholm for his Oscar-nominated Danish war drama, War (2015), premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
Salim played support once again in Walk with Me (2016), directed by Lisa Ohlin, and picked as Denmark’s official submission to the Oscars. Dar Salim gained his first starring feature role in co-writer/director Fenar Ahmad’s crime thriller, Darkland (2017), shortlisted (though not selected) for Denmark’s submission to the Oscars. After a role in the German comedy, Lommbock (2017), Salim was co-star in the Danish drama, Until We Fall (2018), by writer-director Samanou Acheche Sahlstrom, followed by a supporting role in co-writer/director Magnus Millang’s Danish comedy, Heavy Load (2019).
Salim co-starred in Curveball (2020), the German satire film about the origins of the 2003 Iraq War, premiering at the 70th Berlin Film Festival. Salim earned his first prominent role in an English-language movie opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (2023), budgeted at $55 million and released by MGM.
Personal Details
Dar Salim was born and raised for his first six years in Baghdad, Iraq. Salim has one older brother, director-writer-producer Ulaa Salim. At age six, Salim fled Iraq as a refugee and settled in Denmark. He studied in Danish public schools, graduating from high school and working after graduation as a tour guide.
Salim moved to New York City, where he studied acting at the William Esper Studio, and then studied in the Method School of Acting in London. Salim then returned to Copenhagen, where he currently lives, to launch his professional acting career in Danish television and cinema. Salim has one son, and reflecting Salim’s passion for soccer, he’s named Zidane Storm Salim.
Filmography
actor
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- 2023 | The CovenantasAhmed
The Covenant
During the war in Afghanistan, a local interpreter risks his own life to carry an injured sergeant across miles of grueling terrain.
Some Facts About Dar Salim
Military Duty: Dar Salim once served in the Danish Army’s Royal Guard, being both a member of the army’s 1st Battalion as well a guard on duty at Danish royal palaces. Salim is also a trained pilot.
