Alexander Ally Karim, né Ally Kimbugwe Karim, (born 26 May 1976) is a Swedish actor and writer. His role as Frank Nordling in the Viaplay/TV3 series The Lawyer (Advokaten) earned him a Kristallen nomination for Best Actor in 2018.[1]
He is also known for his roles as Dr. Sigur Johanson in The Swarm, and as Ihab Rashid in FX's Tyrant.[2]
Karim was born Ally Kimbugwe Karim on 26 May 1976 in Uppsala, Sweden to a family of refugees from Uganda who came to Sweden in 1975 to escape despotic president Idi Amin.[3] He has two brothers: director Othman "Osmond" Karim and director Baker Karim.[4]
Karim is married with three children.[4]
After completing high school, he moved, as well as his brothers before him, to the United States and City College in Los Angeles, where they all trained as actors. He later worked at The Hudson Theater in the same city. In 2000, Karim moved back to Sweden and started working in film.[5] In his first movie from the same year, the short film Rampljus (Stage Lights), which is about an unemployed actor in Helsingborg, he collaborated with his brother Baker. The film was a great success[6] and won the best film in the category "heavyweight" at the November festival in Trollhättan.
In the jury in Trollhättan was Lukas Moodysson. Together with Lars von Trier they contacted the brothers Karim, who played in their biofilm Fyra kvinnor (2001), written and directed by Baker Karim. Shortly after this, Alexander Karim played the title role in Malcolm (2002), to which he also wrote a script. The same year he also participated as Amir in the short film Tompta Gudh. Malcolm won both the audience prize and the jury prize at the Gothenburg Film Festival 2002, was nominated for a Guldbagge Awards, and was nominated on the critic week in Cannes. Also Karim's next movie The Apple Tree (2003), which is about two African brothers struggling in chilly Sweden, was nominated in Cannes.[7] In 2005 he participated in his brother Osmond's film Om Sara and 2006 in Amir Chamdin's Om Gud vill.
Karim has also participated in several TV series, including Orka! Orka! (2004), En decemberdröm (2005), Lasermannen (2006) and Andra Avenyn (2007). In 2009 he participated in the autobiographical SVT series about the family Babajou, which he also scripted together with his brother Baker. He was also included in the 2006 set at the Fredriksdalsteatern in Herrskap och tjänstehjon where he played Florindo Al Dente in the 19th century Venice.
He played Vanheden in the reboot of Jönssonligan 2015, called Jönssonligan – Den perfekta stöten.[8]
Karim has starred in television series such as SVT's Äkta människor, TV3's Advokaten, and FX's Tyrant.[9][10] He has also had roles in films such as the Johan Falk series, Double Play, Dying of the Light, and Zero Dark Thirty.[10][2] In 2019, Karim was a celebrity guest on Stjärnorna på slottet, where he spoke about his life and career.[11]
In 2019, Karim published his first book, novel Den extraordinära berättelsen om Jonas Paulssons plötsliga död, followed by a children's book called Modigast i världen, which he co-wrote with his wife, Malin Karim.[12][4] In June 2021, Karim and best-selling author Camilla Läckberg released an audiobook based on their co-written script Glacier.[13] The story has also been adapted into a film starring Karim and Lena Endre and directed by Baker Karim.[2][14]
