''Ramy'' is an American
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...
series that premiered on April 19, 2019, on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
. In May 2019, Hulu renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 29, 2020.
The series stars
Ramy Youssef as the titular character. In July 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on September 30, 2022.
The series has been praised for its portrayal of
American Muslims when most Western pop culture depictions are "usually as the bad guys". In January 2020, Youssef was awarded the
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
for
Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy for his role in ''Ramy''. Additionally, Youssef was nominated for two
Primetime Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
for
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series is presented to the best directing of a television comedy series.
Winners and nominations 1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Total awards by netwo ...
and
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The award is presented to the best performance by a lead actor in a television comedy series. Beginning with the 18th Primetime Emmy ...
, and in 2020 he also received the
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
.
Premise
''Ramy'' follows "a first-generation
American Muslim who is on a spiritual journey in his politically divided
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
neighborhood. It explores the challenges of what it is like being caught between an
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
ian community that thinks life is a moral test, and a generation that thinks life has no consequences."
Cast and characters
Main
*
Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, the protagonist of the series. He is a
millennial
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western world, Western demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as start ...
American Muslim who grapples with his faith and lifestyle, to judgment of his friends and family.
*
Mohammed Amer
Mohammed Mustafa Amer ( ar, محمد عامر; born July 24, 1981) is a Palestinian American stand-up comedian. He is best known for his Netflix comedy special ''Mo Amer: The Vagabond'', and his role as one third of the comedy trio Allah Made ...
as Mo, Ramy's cousin who owns a diner.
*
Hiam Abbass as Maysa Hassan, Ramy's mother.
*
as Ahmed, Ramy's friend and a doctor.
*
Amr Waked as Farouk Hassan, Ramy's father.
*
May Calamawy as Dena Hassan, the sister of Ramy. Although she is a graduate student, Dena is frustrated that her actions and behavior are still restricted by her overprotective parents. This causes her to regularly critique the double standards she and Ramy are judged against.
*
Laith Nakli as Uncle Naseem, the boisterous uncle of Ramy and Dena. He owns a jewelry business, where he employs Ramy after his firing from a startup. He casually makes sexist and anti-Semitic statements, despite working with Jewish jewelers. Naseem is very protective of his family, especially of his sister Maysa. (recurring season 1; main season 2 and 3)
Recurring
*
Steve Way as Steve Russo, longtime friend and coworker of Ramy. They become acquainted after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
, when Ramy is alienated due to his Muslim faith
*
Mahershala Ali as Sheikh Ali Malik (season 2)
*
MaameYaa Boafo as Zainab (season 2 and 3)
*
Rosaline Elbay as Amani, Ramy's cousin (season 1 and 2)
*Shadi Alfons as Shadi (season 1 and 2)
*Kate Miller as Vivian
*
Michael Chernus as Michael
*
Jade Eshete as Fatima
*
Poorna Jagannathan as Salma (season 1)
*
Molly Gordon as Sarah (season 1 and 3)
*
Jared Abrahamson as Dennis (season 2)
*
Rana Roy
Rana Roy is a British singer, dancer, and actress.
Rana Roy was born on October 1, 1986, in London.
* In 2007 she was part of the winning Team Bruno on the reality show '' DanceX'', and went on to join the song and dance group Pulse
* In 2008 she ...
as Yasmina (guest season 1 and 2; recurring season 3)
*
Julian Sergi as Yuval (season 3)
Guest
*
Dina Shihabi as Nour (season 1)
*
Jake Lacy as Kyle (season 1)
*
Anna Konkle as Chloe (season 1)
*
Elisha Henig
Elisha Henig (born October 30, 2004) is an American actor.
Personal life and career
Elisha Henig grew up in Portland, Oregon, and became interested in acting after taking a Shakespeare class at the age of eight. He began acting in guest roles ...
as Young Ramy (season 1)
*
Mia Khalifa
Mia Khalifa (; ar, ميا خليفة, Miyа̄ Ḵalīfah; born 1993) is a Lebanese-American media personality and former pornographic film actress and webcam model. She began acting in pornography in October 2014, becoming the most viewed ...
as herself (season 2)
*
Omar Metwally as Bin Khalied (season 2)
*
Beshoy Mehany as Sufi Center Attendee (season 2)
*
Randa Jarrar
Randa Jarrar (born 1978) is an American writer and translator. Her first novel, the coming-of-age story ''A Map of Home'' (2008), won her the Hopwood Award, and an Arab American Book Award. Since then she has published short stories, essays, the ...
as Hosna (season 2)
*
Waleed Zuaiter as Yassir (season 2)
*Maybe Burke as Sophia (season 2)
*
Bella Hadid as Lena (season 3)
*
James Badge Dale as Sheikh Abu Bakar Miller (season 3)
*
Sarita Choudhury
Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is a British actress, known for her role as Mina in the Mira Nair-directed feature film '' Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Choudhury has played roles in American and international films and te ...
as Olivia (season 3)
*
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in '' Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
as Silvak (season 3)
*
Majid Jordan
Majid Jordan is a Canadian R&B duo, consisting of singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman from Toronto, Ontario. They formed in 2011 and signed to OVO Sound, the record label co-founded by rapper Drake, producer Noah "40" Shebib and ...
as Halal Brothers (season 3)
*
Robert Herjavec
Robert Herjavec (; ; born September 14, 1962) is a Croatian-Canadian businessman, investor, and television personality.
Herjavec founded BRAK Systems, a Canadian integrator of Internet security software, and sold it to AT&T Canada (now Allstr ...
as Himself (season 3)
*
Amy Landecker
Amy Lauren Landecker (born September 30, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the Amazon comedy-drama series '' Transparent'' (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in films ''Dan in Real Life'' ( ...
as Kendra (season 3)
Episodes
Season 1 (2019)
Season 2 (2020)
Season 3 (2022)
Production
Development
On October 4, 2017, it was announced that Hulu had given the production a pilot presentation order. The series was created by Ramy Youssef, Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch, and Youssef and Welch both wrote episodes for the series. Executive producers include Katcher, Welch, and
Jerrod Carmichael
Rothaniel Jerrod Carmichael ( ; born April 6, 1987) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and filmmaker. He has released three stand-up comedy specials on HBO: ''Love at the Store'' (2014), ''8'' (2017), and ''Rothaniel'' (2022). He ...
. Production companies involved with the series include
A24.
On April 18, 2018, it was announced that Hulu had given the production a series order for a first season.
On February 11, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere on April 19, 2019. On May 1, 2019, it was reported that Hulu renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 29, 2020.
On July 9, 2020, Hulu renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on September 30, 2022.
Casting
Alongside the series order announcement, it was confirmed that Ramy Youssef would star in the series.
On October 19, 2018, it was announced that May Calamawy had been cast in a series regular role. In July 2019, it was announced
Mahershala Ali would guest star in the second season. In November 2019, it was announced
Laith Nakli had been upped to a series regular.
On March 31, 2022, it was announced that
Bella Hadid will have a recurring guest role in the third season. It will also be her acting debut in the show.
Release
Broadcast
In Europe, the series is available to stream on
StarzPlay. In the United Kingdom, the series premiered in March 2021 on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
. In Latin America, the series premiered in August 2020 on
FX.
In
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, the series is available on
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...
. In
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
, the series is available to stream on Showmax.
Premiere
The series held its world premiere during the
2019 South by Southwest film festival in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, as a part of the festival's "Episodic Premieres" series of screenings. It won the Episodic Audience Award for the festival.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the first season holds an approval rating of 98% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An insightful and hilarious glimpse into the life of a Muslim American family, ''Ramy'' perfectly articulates the precarious nature and nuances of identity and announces Ramy Youssef as a talent to watch." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, it has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season holds an approval rating of 95% based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Ramy''
's layered approach yields rich rewards in a poignant second season that digs deeper without losing faith in the power of levity."' On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Accolades
For its first season, Ramy Youssef was nominated for the
. He won the award
at the
77th Golden Globe Awards in 2020.
References
External links
*
{{Hulu
2010s American comedy-drama television series
2020s American comedy-drama television series
2019 American television series debuts
English-language television shows
Arabic-language television shows
Hulu original programming
Television series by A24
Television series about Islam