Alexander Abdallah

Alexander Abdallah (born Jihad Abdallah; 30 April 1993) is a Swedish actor and filmmaker. His breakout role was in Snabba Cash (2021–2022), for which he won a Kristallen for Best Actor. In addition to lead roles in Thunder in My Heart [sv] (2021–2023) and Paradis City [sv] (2025), he has also worked as a director and screenwriter.

Alexander Abdallah
Abdallah in 2018
Born	Jihad Abdallah (1993-04-30) 30 April 1993 (age 32) Uppsala, Sweden
Alma mater	Malmö Theater Academy
Occupations	Actor director screenwriter
Known for	Snabba Cash
Awards	Kristallen for Best Actor (2021)

Early life and education

Jihad Abdallah was born on 30 April 1993 at Uppsala University Hospital.^[1] He was the third of four siblings born to Lebanese parents who had emigrated to Sweden during the 1980s.^[2][3] He lived initially in Östhammar. When he was four years old, his family's home was broken into by racist skinheads, who assaulted his father.^[4] After the attack, his family moved to Gränby [sv], also near Uppsala.^[5] He attended Wik Folk High School [sv] and Fridhem Folk High School [sv].^[6] Abdallah changed his first name to Alexander when he turned 18.^[7][8] He graduated from the Malmö Theater Academy in 2018.^[3]

Career

In 2017, he had supporting roles in two stage productions at Helsingborg City Theater. First, he played Tyball in Romeo and Juliet (Swedish: Romeo och Julia) at Helsingborg City Theater and then as the king's son Marina Steinmo [sv]'s adaptation of Rapunzel.^[9][10] He also appeared in Snubben lättar på sitt hjärta at the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Skärholmen and Oscar Liljas försvinnande at the Malmö City Theater, in 2018 and 2019, respectively.^[11][12]

Abdallah made his directorial debut with the short film Jag skiner inte utan er mina bröder, which focused on the aftermath of a shooting in Malmö from a child's perspective. It premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2019.^[13]

In 2020, he starred in Bye bye bror with Robin Stegmar, in a joint production by Riksteatern and Teater Fryshuset. Although the play's writing was criticised by Jacob Lündstrom in Dagens Nyheter, both Abdallah and Stegmar's performances were praised.^[14] In June of the same year, it was announced that he would be a cast member of the upcoming Netflix series Snabba Cash, an adaptation of Jens Lapidus' novel of the same name.^[15] The series premiered in April 2021.^[16] In a review for Aftonbladet, Karolina Fjellborg [sv] called Abdallah's performance as Salim "dangerously good."^[17] For Snabba Cash, Abdallah was awarded Best Male Actor at Kristallen.^[18] He also won the Såstaholm Film & Performing Arts Award [sv].^[19]

He was featured in Spotify's 2022 audio drama, De Fria.^[20] He played Sam in Thunder in My Heart [sv] (2021–2023) and Emir in Paradis City [sv].^[21][22][23]

He co-created the comedy-drama TV series Halva halva with Mustafa al-Mashhadani [sv]. Abdallah also served as a director and writer.^[24] The series, known as Home In You for its English-language release, received a positive review from Tim Forster in Special Broadcasting Service.^[25]

Acting credits

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2020	Love Me [sv]	Rick
2021–2022	Snabba Cash	Salim		[26]
2021–2023	Thunder in My Heart [sv]	Sam		[21]
2022	De Fria	Rami (voice)	Audio drama	[20]
2025	Paradis City [sv]	Emir		[23]

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Theater	Notes	Ref.
2017	Romeo and Juliet	Tyball	Helsingborg City Theater		[9]
2017	Rapunzel	King's son	Helsingborg City Theater		[10]
2018	Snubben lättar på sitt hjärta		Kulturhuset Stadsteatern Skärholmen		[11]
2019	Oscar Liljas försvinnande	Rémy	Malmö City Theater		[12]
2020	Bye bye bror	Ava	Riksteatern–Teater Fryshuset		[14]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2021	Kristallen	Best Male Actor	Snabba Cash	Won	[18]