Amir El-Masry () is an Egyptian-British actor. He won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in the film ''

Limbo The unofficial term Limbo (, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition in medieval Catholic theology, of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the gene ...

'' (2020) and was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. He was named a 2020

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' Star of Tomorrow. El-Masry debuted in the Egyptian comedy ''Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda'' (2008), for which he was awarded Best Movie Debut at the Egyptian Cinema Oscar Festival.

Early life and education

Born on August 2, 1990 to an Egyptian family, El-Masry was brought up in Acton, West London. He attended Tower House School and the Harrodian School. He went on to graduate with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in criminology and sociology from

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

. After interning at a law firm, he trained at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

(LAMDA), graduating in 2013.

Career

After a conversation with actor

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...

while his father was on a business trip, El-Masry met a screenwriter at a screening of '' Hassan and Marcus'' and made his debut in the Egyptian comedy films ''Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda'' as Ramzy and ''El-Talatah Yishtaghaloonha'' as Nabil. For the former, El-Masry was awarded Best Movie Debut at the 2009 Egyptian Cinema Oscar Festival. He took time out of his first year at Royal Holloway to be in the latter. After graduating from LAMDA, El-Masry first appeared on British television in a 2013 episode of the medical soap opera '' Casualty'' as Naveed. The following year, he made his

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

debut as Alireza in

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

's '' Rosewater''. He had guest roles in the internationally co-produced '' Transporter: The Series'' and the FX series ''

Tyrant A tyrant (), in the modern English usage of the word, is an absolute ruler who is unrestrained by law, or one who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. Often portrayed as cruel, tyrants may defend their positions by resorting to ...

'', and appeared in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

pilot ''Rude Boys''. El-Masry received praise for his performance as Youssef in the 2016

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

miniseries '' The Night Manager''. This was followed by 2017 roles in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

serial ''

The State A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a definite territory. Government is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrat ...

'' and the independent film '' Lost in London''. That same year, El-Masry made his professional stage debut in the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

production of ''Goats'' and appeared in the Danish series '' Herrens Veje''. In 2018, El-Masry played Dante in the

drama '' Age Before Beauty'' and had a recurring role as Ibrahim in '' Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan'' on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

. He starred in the film ''Shoot''. The following year, he played Kazem in the Egyptian series ''El-Brinseesa Beesa'' and Commander Trach in '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker''. El-Masry starred as refugee Omar in Ben Sharrock's ''

''. For his performance, he won Best Actor in a Film at the 2021 British Academy Scotland Awards. He was also nominated for a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) and a Chlotrudis Award, and appeared on end-of-year lists from

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and ''The Playlist''. El-Masry had television roles in the first series of the

and

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series '' Industry'' as Usman Abboud in 2020 and the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

science fiction series '' The One'' as Ben Naser in 2021. El-Masry was cast as a young

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel R ...

in the fifth season of the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

drama ''

The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

''. He also has a recurring role in the BBC

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

drama '' SAS: Rogue Heroes'' and Jessica Hausner's ''Club Zero''. In April 2024, it was announced that he had been cast as Prince Naseem in the upcoming biopic ''

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

''.

Personal life

El-Masry lives in

Acton, London Acton () is a town in West London, England, within the London Borough of Ealing. It is west of Charing Cross. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census, its four Wards of the United Kingdom, wards, East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton ...

. He is Muslim. During the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

, El-Masry helped to launch MENA Arts UK.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

Audio

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Amir El-Masry
at Independent Talent {{DEFAULTSORT:Masry, Amir Living people 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London English Muslims Egyptian Muslims Egyptian emigrants to England English male film actors Egyptian male film actors Egyptian male television actors English male television actors Male actors from Cairo Male actors from London People educated at The Harrodian School People educated at Tower House School Actors from the London Borough of Ealing Year of birth missing (living people) People from Acton, London Egyptian male stage actors Egyptian male voice actors English male stage actors English male voice actors