Sami Kaftan
Biography
Sami Kaftan is an Iraqi actor. He is best known in his home country and other Arabian Gulf countries for his prolific career, specially on stage, that has spanned over five decades. He started his career in 1960 through a role in the film "Yad Alqadar" (The Hand of Fate). He participated in more than 25 films and numerous television series and theatrical plays.
Known For & Full Filmography38 Titles
Drama Series - 2006, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1971, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
In a drought-stricken Iraqi village, residents struggle with dried wells and springs, considering migration. Led by Sheikh Zayed Al-Radi, they unite to find water and persevere through scarcity.
Drama Series - 2021, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2000, 16 episodes • as Bahjet Afandi
The story of the series revolves around a neighborhood in the city of Basra in southern Iraq.
Drama Series - 2023, 16 episodes • as Sami
The life of a father-to-be is turned upside down when news of his wife’s pregnancy inadvertently sets off a chain of tragic events.
Movie - 1989, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A dispute over ownership of a piece of land creates escalating problems between an affluent young girl and a simple employee as both try to win the land. The girl insists on vacating it and he insists on compensation. The girl goes to court and the judge finds a loophole in the case.
Movie - 1993, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film depicts the biography of King Ghazi, one of the kings of Iraq in the 1930s, who sought to break free from the bonds of British colonization and adopt a nationalist path. This led various parties to attempt his assassination, including the servant Sa'id, who is also disposed of after the assassination. The film also portrays aspects of life in Iraq during the 1930s.
Drama Series - 2019, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1961, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Although the film was completed, it was never screened to the public due to unclear production reasons. It is a love story that encounters several obstacles and ultimately ends with a happy conclusion. The film also includes a number of songs performed by the singer Saeed Al-Jalawi.
Movie - 1989, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film presents, in a comedic manner, how to execute a dramatic film featuring a love story between a young man and a young woman. It depicts the execution of comedic scenes by shooting at the lover, as well as the selection of a cart and horse by the carriage driver Alwan. Alwan becomes annoyed during filming by the romantic expressions between the lovers, believing them to be real, which causes disruptions in the film's production.
Movie - 1991, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
In a dramatic context, Rahoumi experiences the final moments of his life as his life flashes before his eyes. He reminisces about his wife, who was unable to conceive, and remembers Naja, whom he regarded as his own daughter, and decides to leave her a significant portion of his wealth. However, his sister and her husband strongly object to this decision.
Movie - 1963, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A social drama interspersed with numerous songs and dances, revolving around a young man who falls in love with a girl. In each situation, a song vividly portrays the emotions of that moment.
Movie - 1967, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A wayward son from a poor family chooses a life of vice, a path that ultimately leads him to a tragic end.
Movie - 1986, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1979, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A simple family lives in Baghdad, led by a hardworking man named Sheikh Ali. He has a son named Abbas and a daughter named Najia. As Abbas matures, he falls in love with Majida. Yasin, Abbas's mother, seeks to arrange his marriage to Majida. This leads to a conflict between Yasin and Abbas, sparking the flames of revenge and a struggle for control over the family's commercial business.
Movie - 1984, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film portrays the Iraqi army's role in confronting Iranian aggression during the war between Iraq and Iran from 1980 to 1988. The film highlights numerous heroic acts of Iraqi army personnel during this conflict.
Movie - 1978, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film narrates the world of fishermen, where they face greed and exploitation by a figure called "Sabti," who exploits the fishermen and takes everything from them, reaping the profits while they receive nothing. Mahmoud (the leader of the Nu'mani tribe) confronts him, refusing to be exploited, but he soon disappears under mysterious circumstances, leading to the cessation of the struggle.
Movie - 1980, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
The film portrays a snapshot of the Lebanese Civil War through the behavior of a sniper who ruthlessly kills his targets. Through this, many social contradictions and conflicts amid the Lebanese Civil War are revealed, as a bloody conflict rages between factions with no relenting or desire to cease the bloodshed.
Movie - 1977, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A love story unfolds between a girl and a young man in one of the coastal areas. They become involved in a physical relationship, resulting in her becoming pregnant. Tragically, her lover dies in an accident. Fearing disgrace, she attempts suicide, but is rescued by a kind-hearted fisherman who falls in love with her and cares for her in his small cottage. However, the girl dies after giving birth to their child, leaving the fisherman in shock.
Drama Series - 2020, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1988, 2h 15m • as Yussef
A festival is being held in Babylon, to which archeologists, artists, and media professionals are invited, along with an Egyptian television delegation headed by an archaeologist. This scholar meets an Iraqi girl who bears Iraqi features, and gives her appearance the impression that the archaeologist, the archaeologist, and that his dream has begun to materialize in front of him, and a group of comic situations begins.
Movie - 2014, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
an Iraqi drama set in a rural village. The story follows a farming family whose life is disrupted when a corrupt city merchant exploits villagers, leading to the death of one of them. This pushes the young protagonist and his sister to confront the injustice and seek change using what he learned in the city. The film highlights themes of ignorance vs. education, tradition vs. modernity, and the strength and wisdom of rural women. It’s a social drama that reflects the struggles, values, and beauty of Iraqi village life.
Movie - 2022, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
After his beloved fiancé was forcibly taken away, Esho, a school teacher, is falsely accused of committing a crime and gets thrown in an Iraqi prison. While in prison, he witnesses the unjust execution of three activists who become heroes in their martyrdom for defending the human rights of the indigenous Assyrian people in the Middle East. Upon his prison release, Esho vows to honor the martyrs' courage and sacrifice by journeying the world to share their stories. Ultimately, he gains international attention when he meets an American journalist, William Cooper, a representative of the United Nations Human Rights Organization.
Drama Series - 2009, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 1996, 16 episodes • as رجل الحكايات
The series talks about a man who has The Box of Wonders. He rotates between alleys and gathers children around him, telling them rare and wondrous tales and the wisdom derived from those tales in a fun and comic atmosphere.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Love challenges war, Yasar and Yara face all obstacles that prevent their marriage and decide to escape away from the grudges of parents and their battles towards a safe haven under church bells, but fate snatches hope
Drama Series - 1984, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Intersecting fates of people suffering from poverty lead them to resort to unethical, unconventional, and illegal solutions to become wealthy. However, they are shocked by the truths that reveal the dire consequences of their actions.
Drama Series - 2006, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
The tragedy of a country embodied in the life of Khatun, which owned beauty, money and power, and was chastity, so she saved her body from the arrogance of the governor and the injustice of her uncle to go on the journey of challenge, giving and pain
Drama Series - 1998, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Taking place in Baghdad, the story follows the nurse Wahiba and her life in the Iraqi capital during the nineties, as it focuses on the suffering of the Iraqi people during that period of the economic embargo on Iraq.
Drama Series - 1998, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
A historical drama that deals with the life story of the Abbasid Caliph Abu Ja'far al Mansur, beginning since he assumed the caliphate, building the city of peace (Baghdad) and entering the Golden Gate.
Drama Series - 1990, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 1997, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
A contemporary realistic story that turns into a case before the court and leaves the matter of solving and treating it at the end of the events to the viewer, which makes the final judgment subject to the viewer's vision, orientation and intellectual structure.
Drama Series - 2000, 16 episodes • as إبن مقلة
The series talks about the calligrapher minister Ibn Muqla and his work in the court of the Abbasid Caliphs.
Drama Series - 2025, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 1983, 2h 15m • as Sulayman
During the British colonial period in Iraq, Sheikh Dhari and his tribe openly reject colonization and employ peaceful resistance against the British occupation. In response, the English forces resort to violence, targeting Sheikh Dhari's locations in their confrontation with Laghman. When he is captured, they accuse him of blocking the road, revealing the schemes orchestrated by Britain in Iraq.
Drama Series - 2008, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Movie - 2002, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
Back in his home town of Babylon after a long exile, the Iraqi-born director Abbas Fahdel asks himself: "What has become of my friends? What has life here made of them? What would my life have been like if I hadn't chosen to build my destiny elsewhere?"
Movie - 2015, 2h 15m • as Al Haj Nejim
(Nadia), who was born and raised in (France), returns to (Iraq) to rediscover her roots and origins. During this journey, (Nadia) gradually uncovers the story of her grandfather, Haj (Najm) Al-Baqal, the owner of the date shop, and the man who was one of the prominent leaders of the revolution in (Najaf) against British colonialism in 1918. The film sheds light on the impact that Haj (Najm) Al-Baqal's struggle left on the people of (Najaf).