Tyler De Nawi

Tyler De Nawi, born Mustafa Dennawi, is an Australian actor. He is also a dancer, acrobat and is disciplined in Capoeira, and Kickboxing.

He made his debut TV appearance in SBS drama mini-series The Principal.^[1] Then gained recognition as the boy next door, Elias Habib on Australian comedy TV series Here Come The Habibs (2016) followed by his appearance in Doctor Doctor (2017).

In April of 2017 he made his stage debut in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo in which he took on the role of Uday Hussein alongside Maggie Dence in a story based off the fall of Iraq and the Saddam regime.

Since the ending of Here Come the Habibs, the original creators have gone on to write other shows moving their content to channel 10. De Nawi is set to appear on SBS's new hit Mini Series On The Ropes along side an all international star cast. Tyler is also set to appear as Jamal leading the cast in the independent feature film "A Lion Returns" which will be the 10 year come back for Director Serhat Caradee since his award winning Australian Film "Cedar Boys"

Early life

De Nawi was born in Sydney, Australia, to Zena & Ahmed, both Arabic teachers that migrated to Sydney from Lebanon in the 1970s during the civil war. Born into a conservative Muslim household, he was raised in Riverwood.^[2]. His father introduced him to what became his biggest inspirations, Bruce Lee, Muhammed Ali, & Elvis. His father is also a recording artist that released Muslim music that has hit over 1.8 million views on YouTube and continue to play on 2MFM radio.

De Nawi attended many different schools, starting with Hanan's Road Public School, Sir Joseph Banks High School, James Busby High School, Cecil Hills High School, and finally graduating at Punchbowl Boys High School. With a love for movies and fighting, his interests outside of school fell more with martial arts, beginning with, Hapkido, and then discovering Capoeira and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at the age of 15.

His Tutors, also being accomplished acrobats from Brazil’s Oba Oba live show, taught him the art of Capoeira, the Brazilian-Portuguese language and the tumbling of their Brazilian Acrobatics. Where at the age of 17 already begun performing professionally through Australia, China and the Asia pacific.

The progression of his skill as an acrobat introduced him to the greater community. Evolving his craft with elements of parkour. Where he was then cast in the action thriller short film “Hunt For Hiroshi” by 9Lives Films, where he also attached himself to the production as a producer, discovering his interests in film and cinema, thereafter continuing his study in Drama.

Upon graduating Drama school, he was cast in an Original Australian Mini Series ‘The Principal’ taking the role of Karim Ahmed in the High School Crime Drama loosely based off De Nawi’s home district of Punchbowl/Bankstown.

Soon after he was cast as a swordsman in a live Original Oratorio Production based off the life and Story of Prophet Muhammad in Cairo, Egypt. Which streamed all over the middle east to an estimated population of 200 Million people. Returning back to Australia to take on his most well known role of Elias Habib on Original Nine Network Television production of Here Come The Habibs in 2016. De Nawi and Here Come The Habibs became a focus of debate around the 2016 Australian Logie Awards when one of the winners Waleed Aly dedicated his win to an actor who had been forced to change his given name, Mustafa, to get work on Australian television.^[3] It shortly came to light this actor was De Nawi; he then penned an essay for The Age describing the difficulties he had landing auditions or any job until he changed his first name, pointing to the "irony in the fact that after I changed my name to Tyler I landed roles as Karim Ahmed (Syrian-Australian) in The Principal and Elias Habib (Lebanese-Australian) in Here Come the Habibs. Especially since my own heritage includes both Lebanese and Syrian ancestry."^[4]

The Lebanese population have had significant problem integrating into Australia. In 2005, Australia took part in one of the biggest race wars known to date between White-Australia and the Lebanese-Australians, known as the Cronulla Riots, where his oldest brother was arrested. Both his Uncles have also been jailed for drug related offences. De Nawi has written a short film about his family and their struggle with integrating into Australia and his own conflict with the Muslim faith due to continued racism in the world around him.

He then decided to take on the role of Jamal Alamein, in independent feature A Lion Returns, which opens up the topic of radicalisation of Muslims around the world, a story of redemption and the consequences of actions to the world and loved ones around us. "its my public apology to the world, in hope that one day we can stop the hatred, and secret racism around our dinner tables, schools, where we teach our youth to hate each other, which can cause the youth to commit such acts just because we are all looking for somewhere to belong"

Continuing his martial arts training, he began Kickboxing in 2016. Competing and judging in the WAKO Championship.

Deciding to put his focus on martial arts again, he was then cast as a boxer in another SBS Mini Series On The Ropes where he plays the role of Hayder “The Hammer” Al-Amir, middleweight champion. He has now continued to branch out with his craft, moving over to Los Angeles to continue pursuing his acting career.

References