Nabeel El Khafif, a talented Canadian-born actor, initially pursued a career in medicine and surgery, but eventually followed his passion for the performing arts.
Born on January 2, 1984, in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Nabeel is the eldest of two children to Gamila Zahran, a pharmacist, and Mahmoud El Khafif, an economist and diplomat with the United Nations, of Egyptian descent.
Throughout his elementary, middle, and high school years, Nabeel actively participated in school drama productions, receiving praise from both his peers and teachers. He excelled academically, skipping three grades and completing 13 years of schooling at the age of 15.
Despite his passion for the performing arts, Nabeel was discouraged from pursuing a career in this field and instead attended the University of Waterloo, where he studied Bioinformatics.
After graduating, Nabeel found himself still intent on becoming an actor, but was forced to take on various odd jobs to support himself. Eventually, he was encouraged to consider a career in medicine instead.
Nabeel then attended medical school at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied entirely in French. Upon completing his schooling, he was immediately employed as a surgical resident at the University of Geneva hospitals.
He went on to obtain a Master's degree in medicine and won several awards for his research on Pancreatic and Islet transplantation, which was published in a top-ranked peer-reviewed journal.
During this period, Nabeel realized he was moving towards the fulfillment of a dream that "was not his." After careful reflection, he resigned from his position at the hospital and returned to Canada to begin his acting career.
Nabeel's first film role was a minor appearance in X-men: Apocalypse in 2016, and he has since appeared in a variety of film and television roles, including 'The Expanse', 'American Gods', 'The Mist', and others.
