Khaled Taja

Born Nov 6, 1939

A Syrian actor of Kurdish origins, born in Damascus. At the age of eight he discovered that he was fond of drawing and fell in love with the imagination of the shadow. At the age of ten he began to frequently visit the seven theaters of Damascus, such as "Al-Nasr", "Al-Rasheed" and "Andalus". He starred in two theatrical works written and directed by one of his high school teachers. In 1956 he moved to the Free Theater troupe. He played a number of roles on stage, after which he moved on to writing and directing for theater. Among his works in this field is The Servants of the Rich, which he also co-starred in. He also wrote the play The Crazy, which did not see the light due to the bad financial circumstance he suffered after his father’s death. In 1965, the Yugoslavian director Boško Futonovic chose him to star in the movie Truck Driver.