Joel Basman

Joel Basman (born 23 January 1990) is a Swiss actor.

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.

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.