The FENECH family just levelled up in a big way. We’re thrilled to welcome Robert Rabiah to FENECH – The Jeff Fenech Story, taking on the role of Theo Onisforou — a figure whose presence sits right at the intersection of loyalty, influence, and the unseen forces that orbit a champion.

Director Matt Norman has long admired Rabiah’s work, and this casting has been a genuine “pinch me” moment for the production. Matt says he sees Robert as one of Australia’s very best actors — the kind of performer who doesn’t chase big moments, but makes them unavoidable. In a film built on truth, heart, and pressure, that’s exactly the calibre of actor you want holding one of the story’s most quietly powerful roles.

Robert Rabiah is one of those rare screen artists who brings an immediate sense of authenticity. He has built a career playing characters who feel lived-in and human, never manufactured. He’s also a multi-hyphenate — actor, writer, and producer — who has earned major recognition not only for what he does on camera, but for the craft behind the scenes as well. His Screen Australia profile notes significant accolades including an Australian Writers’ Guild Award recognition and other honours across his career.

Many audiences first truly clocked Rabiah’s intensity and precision through his standout performance as Hakim in Face to Face. That role didn’t just get attention — it drew major awards recognition. Robert was nominated at the first AACTA Awards for Best Supporting Actor for Face to Face, a milestone that speaks to how strongly his performance landed within the Australian screen industry. The reason that nomination matters isn’t because it’s a line on a bio — it’s because it reflects what viewers feel instinctively when Robert is on screen: the stakes go up, and the truth gets sharper.

His film and television journey is deep, diverse, and incredibly Australian in the best way — the slow burn of someone who has put the work in across every kind of set and story. He began screen work early, including a role in the iconic Australian film Chopper, and went on to appear across well-known series such as Blue Heelers, Stingers, Underbelly, Neighbours, and more, steadily building a reputation as a performer directors can trust when scenes need bite, danger, humour, or emotional weight. Over the years he’s continued to cross between gritty drama and character-driven storytelling, including credits like Deadline Gallipoli, Secret City, Safe Harbour, and feature work including Ali’s Wedding and Down Under.

That breadth is exactly why Rabiah is such a meaningful addition to FENECH. He’s not just “good” — he’s seasoned. He knows how to play a moment without overselling it. He knows how to imply history with a look. He knows how to make silence feel like tension.

More recently, Robert’s career has also moved strongly into the international arena, including his casting in Land of Bad, the action thriller starring Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe. Sharing a film with that level of global star power matters because it speaks to Rabiah’s scale. He can hold his own in scenes where the energy is big and the lens is unforgiving, and he can still bring the performance back to something grounded and real.

Now, he brings that same screen authority to Theo Onisforou — a man who, in the world around Jeff Fenech, represents something many sports films ignore: the machinery behind the fighter. In Jeff’s orbit, Theo has been described as a friend and sometime manager to Fenech, and a person who moved through high-level business circles as a “former Packer business insider.” Business reporting has also referred to Theo Onisforou as a key Packer figure — even describing him historically as James Packer’s “property right-hand man.” There’s also reporting that directly links Theo Onisforou and Jeff Fenech in the same breath, reflecting the reality that their worlds overlapped in public, business, and sporting arenas.

And that’s why Theo is such an important role in FENECH. Because Jeff’s story isn’t only about what happened under lights. It’s about what happened around him — the people who shaped opportunities, influenced decisions, protected him, complicated his life, and at times pulled him in directions that weren’t always simple. Champions don’t rise in a vacuum. They rise inside ecosystems, and those ecosystems include powerful personalities who aren’t always visible to the public.

Theo, in our film, is a dramatic gateway into that unseen world. He’s not the guy throwing punches, but he can change the outcome of a fight week with a conversation. He can shift Jeff’s emotional state with a promise, a warning, or the wrong kind of reassurance. He represents the adult world that enters a young fighter’s life the moment the wins start stacking up — contracts, loyalty, influence, ego, money, pressure, and the constant question of who is truly in your corner.

This is where Robert Rabiah becomes essential. Because Theo can’t be played as a “type.” He can’t be played like a cartoon powerbroker or a one-note operator. He needs dimension. He needs warmth and menace to coexist in the same room. He needs intelligence you can feel, without it being announced. He needs the ability to make the audience lean in, not because he’s loud, but because he’s quietly dangerous.

Robert brings that in a way that very few actors can. His strengths are exactly what this character demands: restraint, credibility, and the kind of internal life that makes every line feel like it has history behind it. When Robert plays a character, you don’t feel like you’re watching someone perform; you feel like you’ve met that person somewhere before.

For Matt Norman, this casting is also about respect for Jeff’s legacy and the standard the production is aiming for. FENECH is being built as a human story first — one that honours Jeff’s heart, his volatility, his humour, his loyalty, his scars, and the reality of what it costs to become a national icon. That kind of story needs actors who can bring truth at full volume, and truth in silence. Robert Rabiah does both.

We’re genuinely honoured to have him aboard, and we can’t wait for audiences to see what he brings to Theo Onisforou — a role that helps reveal the world behind the world, and the pressure that exists long before the bell ever rings.

Welcome to the family, Robert.