
Joel Basman (born 23 January 1990) is a Swiss actor. Basman was born in Zurich, Switzerland, to a Swiss Christian mother and an Israeli-Jewish father, both of whom were tailors in the Swiss fashion industry. He grew up in the neighborhood of Aussersihl and was raised bilingual, speaking Swiss-German and Hebrew. He has one older sister who resides in Israel. In 2004 he started his career and played a bold teenager named Zizou for the weekly soap opera Lüthi und Blanc. In 2007 director Tobias Ineichen gave the main part to Joel for his film Jimmie. There he played an autistic boy. In February 2008 he got the prize Shooting Star for his part as a Russian teenager on the film Luftibus, written by director Dominque de Rivaz. In September 2008 Joel received the Schweizer Fernsehpreis (Swiss TV-Prize) in the category film. In October 2008 he got the prize for the best main part from Cinema Tous Ecrans. At the Schauspielhaus Zürich Joel Basman acted 2003 for a youth-theatre project. In 2004 and 2005 he played with students, who were at their final project. He finished his studies at the"European Film Actor School" in October 2008. In 2012 Basman got a part as Bertel in the three-piece TV film Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (Our mothers, our fathers). He also played Pascal in the Swiss TV-film Ziellos (Aimless). Joel Basman played as Sebastien Leclercq in a game called ‘Late Shift’ in 2016. In 2018, Basman played the lead role in Wolkenbruch's Wondrous Journey Into the Arms of a Shiksa, picked up by Netflix. Source: Article "Joel Basman" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 23, 1990 (36)
- Zürich, Switzerland
- Actor, also producer
- 29 on MovieCove · 63 credits in all
What are Joel Basman's films like?
Across their 18 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Self.
Genres
Their MovieCove films by primary genre. The badge is the typical Midcredits score of the genre's films, the median percentile; an up arrow marks a genre at or above their average across these genres.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 18
Light 1 · Serious 2 · Dark 15
Grounded 12 · Stylized 5 · Heightened 1
Gentle 1 · Charged 7 · Intense 10
Steady 8 · Shifting 8 · Whiplash 2
Straight-faced 17 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 1
A split, not a type: Slow burn 11 · Even-paced 6 · Relentless 1
Casual 3 · Engaged 12 · Full focus 3
Easy watch 1 · Affecting 4 · Heavy 13
A split, not a type: Resolved 11 · Open-ended 5 · Ambiguous 2
Roles they play
Usually the Shadow: 4 of 10 analyzed roles.
Show the 10 rolesHide the roles
- Shadowas Tommy in Picco (2010)
- Shadowas Robbie in We Are Young. We Are Strong. (2014)
- Heroas Elisha in Dawn (2014)
- Shadowas Helmut Morbach in Land of Mine (2015)
- Mentoras Rainer Maria Rilke in Paula (2016)
- Heroas Motti Wolkenbruch in The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018)
- Heroas The workman in The Working Man (2019)
- Shapeshifteras Walter Stürm in Caged Birds (2020)
- Shapeshifteras Edward Teller in Adventures of a Mathematician (2020)
- Shadowas Bruno Reiter in Lubo (2023)
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet8
- Tragic6
- Ambiguous4
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Joel Basman's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 18 of their 29 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Tubi (9).
- Generation War (2013) · actor · free
- Hanna (2011) · actor · free
- The Command (2018) · actor · free
- Bye Bye Germany (2017) · actor · free
- Adventures of a Mathematician (2020) · actor · free
- Dawn (2014) · actor · free
- Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010) · actor · free
- Puppylove (2013) · actor · free
- The Colony (2021) · actor · free
- Film Movement Plus, show their 2 titles on Film Movement Plus
- MHz Choice, show their 2 titles on MHz Choice
- Cinemax, show their title on Cinemax
- Crunchyroll, show their title on Crunchyroll
- Howdy, show their title on Howdy
- Lionsgate+, show their title on Lionsgate+
- MovieSphere+, show their title on MovieSphere+
Subscription and free streaming for Joel Basman's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
63 credits, 29 with a MovieCove page; 5 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.

La ragazza con la Leica(2026)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Kafka (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)

Stella: A Life(2023)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all films
Lubo(2023)
Midcredits score: 68th percentile of all films
Late Shift (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

The Shadowers (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

Der Überfall (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

KaDeWe (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

The King's Man(2021)
Midcredits score: 50th percentile of all films
Caged Birds(2020)
Midcredits score: 35th percentile of all films
Dear Thomas (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

Chess Story(2021)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all films
Monte Verità (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

The Colony(2021)
Midcredits score: 20th percentile of all films
Ich und die Anderen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
Head Burst(2019)
Midcredits score: 82nd percentile of all films
A Hidden Life(2019)
Midcredits score: 91st percentile of all films
The Working Man(2019)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
The Command(2018)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films
Chris the Swiss (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

Clash of Futures (1918-1939) (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
Once Upon a Time in Indian Country (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2017)

Papillon(2017)
Midcredits score: 88th percentile of all films
Bye Bye Germany(2017)
Midcredits score: 64th percentile of all films
Paula(2016)
Midcredits score: 60th percentile of all films
Nussknacker und Mausekönig (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

Land of Mine(2015)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all films
Amnesia(2015)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all films
Dawn(2014)
Midcredits score: 59th percentile of all films
As We Were Dreaming (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Midcredits score: 80th percentile of all films
Keep Rollin' (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)

Ziellos (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)

The Monuments Men(2014)
Midcredits score: 42nd percentile of all films
Puppylove(2013)
Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all films
Generation War(2013)
Midcredits score: 97th percentile of all shows
Summer Outside (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)

The Swiss Miss Massacre (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2012)

Homeland(2011)
Midcredits score: 94th percentile of all shows
Löwenzahn - Das Kinoabenteuer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)

Hanna(2011)
Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all films
Picco(2010)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Songs of Love and Hate (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)

Rosannas Tochter (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)
Midcredits score: 58th percentile of all filmsWacked..! (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)

Happy New Year (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Mikado (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Mein Schüler, seine Mutter & ich (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Thousand Oceans (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Luftbusiness (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Jimmie (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2008)

Breakout (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

Cannabis - Probieren geht über Regieren (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)

SOKO Wismar (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2004)

Alarm for Cobra 11: The Motorway Police (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1996)

Rosa Roth (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)

The Old Fox (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)

Police Call 110(1971)
Midcredits score: 24th percentile of all shows
Tatort(1970)
Midcredits score: 43rd percentile of all showsDon't Be A Stranger (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
Star power in the 97th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 63 titles, 62 of them dated from 1970 to 2026; peak year 2016.

Biggest box office
The Command (2018)

Highest rated
Land of Mine (2015)

Most popular right now
The Colony (2021)
Film career
Peak 2016 · steadily prominent in film for years. Top draw in 5 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 2010Screen debut· Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps
- 2015Breakout· Land of Mine
- 2015Career best· Land of Mine
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30; the columns are the share of top-billed roles in each era, 5-year spans from the year on the label, merged until each holds at least 5 roles.
Awards
Won a Berlinale award in 2008.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Joel Basman's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 61st percentile, the median of all 25; across their 18 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 61st percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up10
- 50th to 74th11
- 25th to 49th6
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
15 of their 29 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved4
- Divisive1
- Crowd Pleaser15
- Broadly Agreed3
- Mixed6
Reviewers score the acting 72/100 in their films, across 13 reviewed titles; fans 81, detractors 50. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Joel Basman's work okay for kids?
Across up to 6 MovieCove titles with content scores, 1 of the 5 categories sits near the median of all films.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted. The band's colour is the severity of their median, named beside it.
Who does Joel Basman work with?
People who share at least 2 of Joel Basman's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Adrian Frutiger shares the most, 3.
Directors
- Michael SteinerShared titles: The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018), Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Michael Steiner

Actors
- Lukas MikoShared titles: Stella: A Life (2023), Chess Story (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Lukas Miko

- Philippe GraberShared titles: Lubo (2023), The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Philippe Graber

- Albrecht SchuchShared titles: Chess Story (2021), Paula (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Albrecht Schuch

- Bella BadingShared titles: The Colony (2021), Paula (2016)See all 2 shared titles with Bella Bading

Composers, cinematographers and editors
- Adrian FrutigerShared titles: The Working Man (2019), The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018), Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010)See all 3 shared titles with Adrian Frutiger
- Pascal WalderShared titles: The Working Man (2019), Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Pascal Walder
- Benjamin FueterShared titles: The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018), Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps (2010)See all 2 shared titles with Benjamin Fueter
Producers
- Simon OfenlochShared titles: La ragazza con la Leica (2026), Adventures of a Mathematician (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Simon Ofenloch
- Florian KrügelShared titles: Stella: A Life (2023), Chess Story (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Florian Krügel

- Ivan MadeoShared titles: Stella: A Life (2023), Caged Birds (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Ivan Madeo
- Stefan EichenbergerShared titles: Stella: A Life (2023), Caged Birds (2020)See all 2 shared titles with Stefan Eichenberger
