Elyas M'Barek

Biography

Elyas M’Barek is an Austrian actor. M’Barek made his first feature film appearance while still in school, playing the character "Blaubart" in Dennis Gansel’s Mädchen, Mädchen. In the ARD early-evening series Türkisch für Anfänger (Turkish for Beginners), he played Cemil (Cem) Öztürk—a macho character of Turkish descent whose father moves in with a German woman and her children. In 2006, he was awarded the German Television Prize in the category "Best Lead Actor in a Series" for this role. That same year, the series itself received the German Television Prize in the category "Best Series." M’Barek played one of the lead roles in the film Wholetrain, which is set within the graffiti scene. In 2008, he portrayed the Turkish teenager Sinan in the film adaptation of the novel Die Welle (The Wave). From 2009 to 2011, he appeared in the medical series Doctor’s Diary, and in 2010, he played the young Bushido in Zeiten ändern dich. He also appeared as Flo in the film Teufelskicker. Filming began on September 21, 2010, for the movie What a Man, which was released in German cinemas in August 2011. Also in 2011, he appeared in the film Biss zur großen Pause – Das Highschool Vampir Grusical (Bite Until the Big Break – The High School Vampire Musical), a production of ProSieben's Funny Movie series. In 2012, M’Barek could be seen in the feature films Türkisch für Anfänger, Fünf Freunde (Five Friends), Offroad, and Heiter bis wolkig. On October 25, 2012, the animated feature Hotel Transylvania was released, in which he—alongside Josefine Preuß—lent his voice to one of the lead roles. In September 2012, M’Barek’s role in the film adaptations of The Mortal Instruments book series was confirmed. In November 2013, the comedy Fack ju Göhte was released, in which he took on the role of Zeki Müller. He reprised this role in the sequel Fack ju Göhte 2, which hit theaters in September 2015. In the film adaptation The Physician, M’Barek starred alongside Tom Payne and Ben Kingsley. In February 2015, he appeared on the big screen as Joseph in the comedy Traumfrauen, in which he played a leading role alongside Hannah Herzsprung, Karoline Herfurth, Palina Rojinski, and Iris Berben. In November 2016, the comedy Welcome to Germany—in which M’Barek appears as the doctor Tarek Berger—was released in theaters.