Abdel Aziz El Mountassir (Ait Attab, Morocco, 1958) is the son of an active opponent of the regime of Hassan II who has been living in exile in Algeria since 1963 and who was condemned to death by default. In 1968, his family fled Morocco to join him in exile. Abdel Aziz El Mountassir finished his schooling in Algeria and began to study Law but did not complete the degree as he returned to Morocco in 1982. In the next five years he studied Philosophy at the Mohamed V University of Rabat and completed a degree in Anthropology at the École de Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. In 1988 he moved to Barcelona, where he presently resides. Obliged by circumstances to take any job he could, he was working as a bricklayer in the Raval neighbourhood at the time when José Luis Guerín was shooting his film En construcción (Work in Progress). His appearance in the film gave him the chance to make his way in the film world and to fulfil another of his vocations, that of being an actor. Since En construcción, he has appeared in many films and plays, although his main concern is the struggle for a wide array of just causes, as well as finding time for reading and writing.
