Emilio Sakraya

Emilio Sakraya is a German actor and musician whose career has moved between film, television and music. Born in Berlin on 29 June 1996, he grew up in the German capital and began acting as a teenager. One of his early screen appearances came in the 2010 film * Zeiten ändern dich* (*Times Change You*), a biographical drama about rapper Bushido. The role placed him in a film closely tied to contemporary German popular music, a connection that would recur in his career.

Sakraya became widely recognizable to international viewers through the Netflix series *Warrior Nun*, adapted from the comic-book character created by Ben Dunn. He played J.C., a young man who becomes involved with Ava and the Order of the Cruciform Sword in the show’s first season. The series introduced him to an audience beyond Germany, while giving him a part in a supernatural action story rather than a conventional crime or family drama.

His German-language television work includes *4 Blocks*, the crime series set in Berlin’s Arab-German underworld. Sakraya appeared as Issam, a character connected to the Hamady family’s criminal network. The series, which ran from 2017 to 2019, was praised for its portrayal of Berlin’s shifting loyalties and neighborhood politics. Sakraya also played the lead role of Zeki in the German Netflix series *Tribes of Europa*, a post-apocalyptic drama set in Europe in 2074. Its story follows three siblings whose lives are shaped by conflict among rival groups after the collapse of the continent’s political order.

Sakraya’s film roles have ranged from comedy to action. In *Lange Live the Königin*—the German comedy released in English as *Long Live the Queen*—he appeared alongside a cast led by Hannelore Elsner. He later took the title role in *Rheingold* (2022), director Fatih Akin’s film about rapper and entrepreneur Giwar Hajabi, known as Xatar. The film traces Hajabi’s life from his family’s flight from Iraq to his rise in the German rap scene, including the robbery that led to his imprisonment. Sakraya’s performance required him to portray a real person across different stages of that life.

Alongside acting, Sakraya has pursued music under his own name. His releases include the 2020 album *Roter Sand* and the 2022 album *1996*, the latter sharing its title with his birth year. He has also released singles and performed live, combining pop and hip-hop influences. Across these projects, Sakraya has built a career rooted in German-language entertainment while taking on roles and releases that have reached international streaming audiences.