Adam Ali - Iris Prize Winner 2021

2022 Best British Jury

Adam Ali is a British Libyan actor and director striving to celebrate queer Muslim visibility. He received a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for his performance as ‘Zain’ in the season finale of Apple TV’s ‘Little America’. Directed by NBC’s Queer As Folk reboot director Stephen Dunn, Adam starred alongside Haaz Sleiman as they told the story of a gay Syrian refugee who dreams of being openly gay. This year saw the international release of ‘EUROPA’, a new Italian Iraqi feature directed by Haider Rashid, in which Adam plays the lead, ‘Kamal’. Europa has received the prestigious 1st prize at Cairo Film Connection and earned Adam Best Actor at Inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival. Set to hit in the new year is Waterloo Road’s comeback to BBC One. Adam shines as Kai Shariff, the school’s openly gay basketball sweetheart. This is Adam’s newest endeavour in his portrayals of positive Arab queer stories. His most recent short BABA won the top prize at Iris Prize LGBT+ Film Festival in Cardiff with Attitude Magazine saying “It deserves every award going for rising star Adam Ali’s exuberant performance alone”.