Why Dizzy From The Old Guard Looks So Familiar

After much anticipation, the doors to Netflix's library were blown off with the July 10 arrival of The Old Guard, the superhero flick based on the Greg Rucka-written comic series of the same name. 

Directed by Beyond the Lights filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Old Guard stars Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Andy, the leader of a team of mercenaries who are always down to take the most dangerous jobs ... because they are all literally thousands of years old, heal pretty much immediately from any injury, and can't die. But when a mysterious party threatens to expose their existence just as a new member of the crew becomes known, the team must do whatever it takes to keep their cover from being blown.

The movie's excellent supporting cast includes Marwan Kenzari (Aladdin) as Joe, Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) as Copley, and KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) as the newcomer Nile. Layne's character shares some scenes with a Marine named Dizzy — whose face probably looks pretty familiar. The actress who plays Dizzy in The Old Guard is Natacha Karam, and although she hasn't been in show business for very long, she's quickly picked up the kind of credits that can set the stage for a long and fruitful career in film and television. 

This is why Dizzy from The Old Guard looks so familiar. 

According to IMDb, Karam is of mixed French-Lebanese and Northern Irish descent. She's also a fluent French speaker, and she began her career based in London. As such, Karam's very first credit is a small role as Tamara on a 2017 episode of the long-running BBC series Silent Witness, which follows a team of forensics experts as they gather the evidence to solve major crimes. The series has aired an astonishing 23 seasons, having premiered all the way back in 1996.

Karam made her stateside debut that same year, with an appearance as Mina Becker on an episode of the Claire Danes-starring spy thriller series Homeland. She also starred as Melissa in the Hallmark TV movie Valentine's Again, a sort of Valentine's Day-themed take on the '90s time-loop classic Groundhog Day. Later, Karam turned in another appearance on British television with a guest spot as Ambi Busnal on the BBC One medical drama Casualty.

It wouldn't be long before Karam would land a couple of steadier television gigs, but first, she decided to try her hand at a role in a feature film — and boy, did she ever pick a wild one.

If you're not familiar with the 2018 thriller The Hurricane Heist, be assured that the film is exactly what it sounds like. It concerns the astoundingly risky plan of a gang of thieves led by a rogue U.S. Treasury agent Casey Corbyn (Fear the Walking Dead's Maggie Grace) to rob the Federal Reserve as a Category 5 hurricane bears down on the facility where the cash is stored. What could go wrong? Everything, of course. Rob Cohen — who helmed the action classics Daylight, The Fast and the Furious, and xXx — directed The Hurricane Heist, so you know there's a lot of frantic vehicle-based action as looming walls of rushing water crush everything in their paths just slowly enough for said vehicles to outrun them.

Karam had only a minor role in The Hurricane Heist as Laurie Skooler, a clever young woman working at the National Weather Service. Unfortunately, it's not like The Hurricane Heist could have done much to raise Karam's profile even if her part had been a bigger one, as the film itself was nearly as big a disaster as the event at its center, failing even to make back its modest $35 million budget. It's still a pretty fun flick, though, and you certainly can't accuse it of failing to deliver on its title.

If you missed the appearances we've mentioned so far, then you probably recognize Karam from one of her two recent starring roles on network television series. 

In 2017, Karam was cast on the NBC military drama The Brave, portraying Jasmin "Jaz" Khan, the resident sniper on a team of elite special ops soldiers. The series sported a cast that included Chicago P.D.'s Anne Heche, Under the Dome's Mike Vogel, Quantico's Tate Ellington, and Justified's Demetrius Grosse. Though The Brave quickly found a small but dedicated fan base and garnered rave response from viewers, critics weren't keen on it and NBC canceled it after a single season.

Luckily, Karam found a new home in short order: the Fox procedural 9-1-1: Lone Star, which centers on a fictional company of fire, police, and ambulance units in Austin, Texas. On 9-1-1: Lone Star, Karam plays Marjan Marwani, a paramedic and firefighter with a strong dedication to her Muslim faith. She's teamed on the show with veteran actor Rob Lowe, Harlots' Liv Tyler, and The L Word: Generation Q's Brian Michael Smith. 9-1-1: Lone Star is already facing a better fate than The Brave, having been renewed for a second season in April 2020 (via Deadline).

Karam's future is looking just as bright in the movie realm, too. Next on tap for the actress is a starring role in the superhero fantasy film Samaritan opposite Sylvester Stallone, Silicon Valley's Martin Starr, and Orange Is the New Black's Dascha Polanco. Karam's star keeps rising, and it'll be interesting to see what the future has in store for the talented actress.

The Old Guard is streaming on Netflix now.