Joel Basman

Joel Basman (born 23 January 1990) is a Swiss actor best known for having played Franz Kafka in the ARD Miniseries Kafka (2024)

Early life
Basman was born in Zurich, Switzerland, to a Swiss Christian mother and an Israeli-Jewish father, both of whom were tailors in the Swiss fashion industry. He grew up in the neighborhood of Aussersihl and was raised bilingual, speaking Swiss-German and Hebrew. He has one older sister who resides in Israel.

Career
In 2004 he started his career and played a bold teenager named Zizou for the weekly soap opera Lüthi und Blanc.

In 2007 director Tobias Ineichen gave the main part to Joel for his film Jimmie. There he played an autistic boy. In February 2008 he got the prize Shooting Star for his part as a Russian teenager on the film Luftibus, written by director Dominque de Rivaz. In September 2008 Joel received the Schweizer Fernsehpreis (Swiss TV-Prize) in the category film. In October 2008 he got the prize for the best main part from Cinema Tous Ecrans.

At the Schauspielhaus Zürich Joel Basman acted 2003 for a youth-theatre project. In 2004 and 2005 he played with students, who were at their final project. He finished his studies at the European Film Actor School in October 2008.

In 2012 Basman got a part as Bertel in the three-piece TV film Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (Our mothers, our fathers). He also played Pascal in the Swiss TV-film Ziellos (Aimless).

Joel Basman starred as Sebastien Leclercq in a game called ‘Late Shift’ in 2016.

In 2018, Basman played the lead role in The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch, picked up by Netflix.

Audio drama

 * 2013: Hattie Naylor: Ivan und die Hunde; Regie: Reto Ott (SRF)

Distinctions

 * 2008: Schweizer Fernsehpreis
 * 2008: Shooting Star