Omar Sy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | (1978-01-20)20 January 1978 (age 47) Trappes, France |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 5 |
Omar Sy (French pronunciation:[ɔmaʁsi],Fula:𞤌𞤥𞤢𞤪 𞤅𞤭,romanized: Omar Si; born 20 January 1978) is a French actor, best known in France for his sketches withFred Testot on theService après-vente des émissions television show onCanal+ (2005–2012). He gained wider recognition for his role in the 2011 comedy-drama filmIntouchables, which earned him theCésar Award for Best Actor, making him the first Black recipient. He later appeared inX-Men: Days of Future Past (2014),Jurassic World (2015),Two Is a Family (2016),Chocolat (2016),Inferno (2016),Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), theNetflix-produced seriesLupin (2021–present),Jurassic World Dominion andThe Takedown (2022).[2]
The fourth of eight children,[3] Sy was born on 20 January 1978 inTrappes in theYvelines department of theÎle-de-France region.[2] Both his parents are immigrants from West Africa.[3] HisMauritanian mother, Diaratou, worked as a house cleaner, and hisSenegalese father, Demba, worked in an auto parts factory[3] after moving fromBakel to France in 1962. Sy is ofFulani origin.[4] He was raised in ahabitation à loyer modéré[3][4] in Trappes. The family visited Senegal every other summer and spokePulaar at home.[5]
Sy began his career after high school in 1996,[4] working atRadio Nova, where he met his comedy partnerFred Testot.[2] Afterwards, he appeared in the TV showLe Cinéma de Jamel onCanal+ withJamel Debbouze. He then created a TV show calledLe Visiophon.[2] Following these roles, he appeared in various TV and stage shows such asJe ne fais pas mon âge andOmar et Fred: le spectacle. Most notably, Sy co-hostedService après-vente des émissions, a French short comedy television series, with Testot from 2005 to 2012 on Canal+ until it was cancelled.
He appeared in the television game showFort Boyard in 2006.
Sy then went to Los Angeles, where he lent his voice to Zip in the French version of theTomb Raider Legend video game. He previously had also voiced a sheep in Disney'sBrother Bear.[2]
In 2008, he appeared in "Bienvenue chez les Bylkas," a video clip bySinik. In 2009, he voiced some of the characters ofLogorama with his partnerFred Testot.
In 2011, Sy starred inThe Intouchables, playing a streetwise young man who becomes the personal care assistant to a wealthyquadriplegic (played byFrançois Cluzet). The film enjoyed tremendous success, topping the French box office in 2011 and becoming the bestselling French film of all time in its native country, with more than 19 million tickets sold. As a result, Sy was voted third favourite French personality behindYannick Noah andZinedine Zidane. The role earned him the 2012Globe de Cristal for Best Actor. He also received a nomination for aSatellite Award for Best Actor.[6] He and co-star François Cluzet were jointly bestowed the Best Actor Award at theTokyo International Film Festival. Additionally, he won theCésar Award for Best Actor in 2012 for the same film.
On 30 December 2012, Sy was voted the favourite personality in France, based on a poll byLe Journal du Dimanche, ahead of fellow actorGad Elmaleh.
In 2014, Sy appeared inX-Men: Days of Future Past, playing the characterBishop. He also starred inSamba, directed byÉric Toledano and Olivier Nakache. He co-starred in the fourth installment of theJurassic Park franchise,Jurassic World,[2] released in June 2015.[7] In 2015, alongside Bradley Cooper, he played a compromised chef inBurnt. In 2017, he voiced the character Hot Rod in the filmTransformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment in theTransformers series. In 2021, he starred in Netflix's hit seriesLupin, a modern day retelling ofArsène Lupin novels.[8][9]Lupin has become one of the most-watched non-English series on Netflix. More recently, Sy has signed a multi-year feature film deal with Netflix.[10] In 2021, he was included on theTime 100,Time's annual list of the most influential people in the world.[11]Most recently, Sy signed a first-look deal withHBO Max to develop a series for multiple markets, especially French-speaking ones.[12]
On 5 July 2007, Sy married Hélène, the mother of his five children,[4][13] inTremblay-sur-Mauldre. They had been together for ten years before they got married.[13] Hélène runs CéKeDuBonheur, a nonprofit supporting children’s wards at French hospitals, and Siyah Organics, a Sénégalo-American organic-food-supplements company.[14] The family resided inMontfort-l'Amaury, a commune ofÎle-de-France,[13] before moving to Los Angeles in 2012. After moving to Los Angeles, Sy met with a language tutor daily and watchedKeeping Up with the Kardashians to improve his English.[15]
Sy is a supporter ofOlympique de Marseille.[17]
He signed an October 2023 open letter ofArtists4Ceasefire during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.[18]
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Granturismo | Voice | Denis Thybaud | Short |
| 2001 | La Tour Montparnasse Infernale | Taxi | Charles Nemes | |
| La concierge est dans l'ascenseur | Omar | Olivier Coussemacq | Short | |
| 2002 | Le Boulet | Malian No. 3 | Alain Berberian &Frédéric Forestier | |
| Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra | Painter | Alain Chabat | Deleted scene | |
| Samourais | Tyson | Giordano Gederlini | ||
| The Race | UN Sergeant | Djamel Bensalah | ||
| Ces jours heureux | Brice | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | Short | |
| 2003 | La Beuze | Michel Dembélé | François Desagnat & Thomas Sorriaux | |
| 2004 | Le Carton | Lorenzo | Charles Nemes | |
| Coming-out | Max | Olivier Ayache-Vidal | Short | |
| 2006 | Nos jours heureux | Joseph | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | |
| 2007 | Garage Babes | Hamidou | Julien Pelgrand | Video |
| 2008 | 2 Alone in Paris | Sammy Bouglioni | Éric Judor &Ramzy Bedia | |
| 2009 | Micmacs | Remington | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | |
| Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard | Snow (voice) | Luc Besson | French dub | |
| Lascars | Narbé (voice) | Emmanuel Klotz & Albert Pereira-Lazaro | ||
| Tellement proches | Bruno | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | ||
| King Guillaume | Jean-Peter | Pierre-François Martin-Laval | ||
| Safari | Youssouf Hammal | Olivier Baroux | ||
| Envoyés très spéciaux | Jimmy | Frédéric Auburtin | ||
| La Loi de Murphy | Father Joachim Ortega | Christophe Campos | ||
| Logorama | Michelin Man, Yellow M&Ms,Mr. Clean (voice) | François Alaux | French version | |
| 2010 | Allez raconte! | Momo (voice) | Jean-Christophe Roger | |
| Florence Foresti: Mother Fucker | Taxi Driver | Nicolas Benamou | Video | |
| 2011 | Les Tuche | Bouzolles Vicar | Olivier Baroux | |
| Intouchables | Bakary "Driss" Bassari | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | ||
| 2012 | De l'autre côté du périph | Ousmane Diakhaté | David Charhon | |
| Les seigneurs | Wéké N'Dogo | Olivier Dahan | ||
| Mais qui a re-tué Pamela Rose? | Mosby | Olivier Baroux &Kad Merad | ||
| Crazy Pink Limo | The Philosopher | Joséphine de Meaux | Short | |
| 2013 | Mood Indigo | Nicolas | Michel Gondry | |
| Aux Armes: AIDES | Narrator (voice) | Camille Delamarre | Short | |
| 2014 | Good People | Khan | Henrik Ruben Genz | |
| X-Men: Days of Future Past | Bishop | Bryan Singer | ||
| Samba | Samba Cissé | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | ||
| Mune: Guardian of the Moon | Sohone (voice) | Benoît Philippon & Alexandre Heboyan | ||
| 2015 | Jurassic World | Barry | Colin Trevorrow | |
| Burnt | Michel | John Wells | ||
| 2016 | Chocolat | Clown Chocolat | Roschdy Zem | |
| The Angry Birds Movie | Red (voice) | Fergal Reilly &Clay Kaytis | French dub | |
| Norm of the North | Norm (voice)[19] | Trevor Wall | French dub | |
| Inferno | Christoph Bouchard | Ron Howard | ||
| Demain tout commence | Samuel | Hugo Gélin | ||
| 2017 | Sahara | Ajar (voice) | Pierre Coré | French dub |
| Knock | Knock | Lorraine Lévy | ||
| Transformers: The Last Knight | Hot Rod (voice) | Michael Bay | ||
| 2018 | Le flic de Belleville | Sebastian Bouchard | Rachid Bouchareb | |
| Yao | Seydou Tall | Philippe Godeau | ||
| 2019 | Le Chant du loup | D'Orsi | Antonin Baudry | |
| Arctic Dogs | Leopold (voice) | Aaron Woodley | ||
| 2020 | The Call of the Wild | Perrault | Chris Sanders | |
| Le prince oublié | The Dad/The Prince | Michel Hazanavicius | ||
| Night Shift | Aristide | Anne Fontaine | ||
| Refugee | Marwan | Brandt Andersen | Short | |
| Tout simplement noir | Omarius | John Wax &Jean-Pascal Zadi | ||
| Soul | Joe Gardner | Pete Docter andKemp Powers | French dub | |
| 2022 | The Takedown | Ousmane Diakhité | Louis Leterrier | |
| Father & Soldier | Bakary Diallo | Mathieu Vadepied | ||
| Jurassic World Dominion | Barry | Colin Trevorrow | ||
| 2023 | The Book of Clarence | Barabbas | Jeymes Samuel | |
| 2024 | The Killer | Sey | John Woo | Post-production |
| 2025 | Shadow Force | Isaac | Joe Carnahan | Post-production |
| TBA | Le Chat du Rabbin[citation needed] | The Cat (voice) | Joann Sfar | Pre-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | La cape et l'épée | Minstrel | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2000 | Omarius et Fred | Various Characters | TV series |
| 2002 | Si j'étais lui | Gabriel | TV movie |
| 2003 | 7 jours au Groland | Samba Bongo | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2003-2008 | Les Guignols de l'Info | Additional voices | |
| 2006 | Les multiples | Jimmy (voice) | TV series |
| 2007 | Moot-Moot | Isidore, Various Characters (voice) | TV series |
| 2010 | Le pas Petit Poucet | Big Thumbling | TV movie |
| Histoires de vies | Mo | TV series (1 episode) | |
| 2010–2012 | SAV des émissions | Various | TV series (4 episodes) |
| 2011 | Fish'n Chips | Fish (voice) | TV series (52 episodes) |
| 2012 | Bref | Party Guest on Phone | TV series (1 episode) |
| Zak | Himself | TV series | |
| 2019 | ForesTiVi | TV series short (1 episode) | |
| 2021-present | Lupin | Assane Diop | Netflix series[20] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jurassic World Evolution 2 | Barry |
