Acting

Sid Ali Fernandel

Sid Ali Fernandel (real name Chabane Haouat), born in March 1923, in Zoudj Ayoun, in the Casbah of Algiers, is an Algerian actor and comedian. Born into a modest family, this student of Rachid Ksentini was a close friend of Mustapha Skandrani and Blaoui El-Houari. Funny, comical and generous, Sid Ali Fernandel began his adventure in the fourth art in the forties, in the wake of the great master of Algerian theater Mahieddine Bachtarzi. He rubbed shoulders with the greats of the fourth art, such as Rouiched. He opted for the stage despite his parents' opposition. He left school very early (in the second year of primary school) and joined the scouts. He started at seventeen and would play in many Algiers sketches such as "Le mariage moderne" and "Le mouton à quatre pattes". With great humor, he performed as always, "Yema, Marti Ou Ana" (My mother, my wife and I). He also performed many educational ditties such as "Balak Min At-Trig" (Watch out for the road) and "Talaq Bila Zawadj". During the Algerian War, he joined the maquis (Wilaya IV), in 1956, arrested and interned in a torture center, he managed to escape, playing a guard who takes out the garbage cans. He took refuge with a relative then went to El Jadida in Morocco. He then joined the FLN artistic troupe.