NAAJ: comedian, actor, filmmaker

About & training

First he was a shepherd. Then a spokesperson at fifteen, a satirical news anchor in South Africa, a George Lucas Scholar at USC and a script intern at CONAN. Now he does stand-up about all of it.

1. Ouled HaffouzThe village. Sheep, mountains, no electricity.
2. SfaxSchool, theatre club, code.
3. JohannesburgAfrican Leadership Academy.
4. South BendNotre Dame stage debut.
5. ChicagoSummers at The Second City.
6. Los AngelesUSC, stand-up, ShepherdBoy.

The village had no running water and no electricity, but it had storytellers: Amazigh and Arab poetry and music, passed around at night. He says that is where all of this started.

At fifteen he co-founded We-Youth, a youth organisation, and became its spokesperson. At the African Leadership Academy he launched NaajShow, a satirical news show that ran every week at campus gatherings. At Notre Dame he made his debut as an actor and as a director on the DeBartolo stage, then spent his summers at The Second City. At USC he earned an MFA in Film & TV Production, directing and sound.

Today it is Legal Alien, the special; ONE BUN MAN, the tour; and ShepherdBoy Entertainment, the company he built to tell stories with the communities he comes from.

USC

MFA, Film & TV Production · George Lucas Family Foundation Scholar

Notre Dame

BA, Film & Theatre · Hesburgh-Yusko Scholar

The Second City

Improv and sketch, Chicago

CONAN

Script intern, TBS

African Leadership Academy

Francis Deng Scholar

Press

The Observer · Front page October 4, 2018. “One-act plays address American dream”, on Steve Martin’s WASP, directed by Naaj at Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.