Khaled Abol Naga

Kal-El Naga, is an Egyptian American actor, director and producer. He is recognized primarily for his work in Egypt and the Middle East, but has increasingly ventured into American and British film and television roles since 2006. He started acting and directing (English and Arabic language) plays and musicals in Egypt while studying theatre at The American University in Cairo. Beginning his professional acting career in 2000, Naga starred in several movies through the next decade with roles encompassing several genres, from musicals ''None but that!'' (2007), action ''Agamista'' (2007), '' ''Eyes Of A Thief'''' (2014), thrillers ''Kashf Hesab'' (2007), art-house '' Heliopolis'' (2009), ''Villa 69'' (2013), ''Decor'' (2014), and slapstick comedy ''Habibi Naêman (Sleeping Habibi)'' (2008). Additionally, he has participated in several European film festivals, where he received a range of awards as an actor and producer. Since 2016, he has acted in several English-speaking roles, such as ''Tyrant'' on FX, History Channel's ''Vikings'', and the BBC's TV mini-series ''The Last Post'', and announced to appear in the upcoming Netflix Show ''Messiah'' 2019. In a film festival in 2016 that celebrated Arab film submissions to the Oscars, he was noted as being the most submitted actor in Arabic films submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (''The Oscars''). He is often tagged in western media as "Egypt's Brad Pitt", and he has also been described as "the next Omar Sharif" especially after his American debut movie ''Civic Duty'' in 2007. Chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 2007, Naga played a pivotal role in child rights awareness, as well as the very first HIV awareness campaigns in Egypt and the Arab world, and participated in several international causes, including advocating for democracy in his home country Egypt. He is one of the most recognizable celebrity faces of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, taking part in mass demonstrations in Cairo that led to the removal of President Mubarak. He faced defamation campaigns against him by the state-owned media during the Mubarak era before the January 25th, 2011 revolution in Egypt, and several times again from the 2013 "coup d'etat" General Sisi government in Egypt in retaliation for his advocacy about the deterioration of human rights, especially Egyptian youth situation in Egypt.

He has also been successful across many Arab TV networks as a host for prime-time shows from 1997 until 2005.

Early years

Naga was born in Heliopolis, a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt. His father, the late Egyptian army major General Mohamed-Sami Aboul-Naga (), came from a traditional family of major landowners in ad-Daqahliyah, Aga, Egypt that was mostly confiscated during the Nasser revolution of 1952 and its Land reform in Egypt. His mother revealed in 2013 that he is a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Fatima Az-Zahraa and Imam Husayn ibn Ali son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He is the younger brother of American-based Egyptian architect Tarek Naga, and architect Seif Abol Naga, who appeared in the classic film ''Empire M''.

During his childhood, Khaled Abol Naga spent much time with his elder brother Tarek, who lives in the US, whom he has said served as a major influence on his character growing up. Khaled was naturally interested in acting at an early age and appeared in a film (''Madness of Love'') starring Naglaa Fathi. He attended St. George's College school for his primary education, graduated as an engineer of electrical telecommunications from the renowned Ain Shams University Faculty of Engineering (ASUFE) and American University in Cairo. He studied Computer Science with a minor in Theater and Drama. He played water polo for his varsity team while based in Europe (1986–9), worked part-time as a fashion model (1993–6), and was a late-night talk show host and radio presenter in the late 1990s.

He joined the theatre department at The American University in Cairo, where he had the opportunity to discover his acting talent in the university's drama productions. In 1997 he left to the United States for more independent studies of his passion, filmmaking. There he studied film acting, cinematography and directing. He cited his acting teacher Dr Mahmoud Al Lozy as his mentor who has influenced him the most.

Acting career

The first phase of Naga's acting career (1989–2002) was largely on stage (in the theatre), although he began hosting TV talk shows in 1998, which contributed to his popularity as a media personality in Egypt and Arabic speaking states. His television and film work has included a variety of different genres. After co-producing and acting in 2009 independent film ''Heliopolis'' by first time director Ahmad Abdalla, he starred in a second film ''Microphone'' which he also co-produced with Mohamed Hefzy in 2010. From 2010 onwards Abol Naga mostly played the lead of much more diverse and complex roles, continued to win numerous awards as an actor and as a producer from regional and international prestigious film festivals. appointed as a jury member and sometimes jury head of regional and international film festivals. he is considered one of the top actors in the world today out of the Arab region.

Film

Naga's acting career began in 1977 when he was still a child with a part in Egyptian film ''Madness of Love'' (Arabic: جنون الحب) (aka: ''Genoun El Hob)'' (aka: ''La Folie De L'amore''). Since then he has appeared in a variety of films including psychological thrillers, romances and musical comedies.

In 2001 his film career gained momentum when he was chosen by director Daoud Abdel Sayed for the lead in
A Citizen, An Informant And A Thief
' (''Mowaten we Mokhber we Haramy)'' (Arabic
مواطن و مخبر و حرامي
. In 2002 he demonstrated his talent for singing in the musical comedy ''Wust El-Balad'' ("''Downtown"''). He was then offered a part in "'' Sleepless Nights''" ''(aka: "Sahar El Layali")'' which became a box office hit in 2003–2004. Later in the same year Abol Naga was awarded Best Actor at the Damascus International Film Festival and the Best Actor Award from the Paris Arab Cinema Biennale of the Institute du Monde Arabe IMA Film Festival.

After "'' Sleepless Nights''" aka: ''Sahar El Layali'', Abol Naga acted in more films in a short period of time. In 2004 he played naval officer Lt Hasan Hosny in ''Yom El Karama'' (''Dignity Day''), followed by his character ''Kimo'' in a popular romantic comedy ''Hob El Banat'' (''Girl's Love''). In 2005–2006 he appeared in several more films: ''Italia's War'', ''Malek wa Ketaba'' (''Heads and Tails''), and the romantic comedy ''Banat West El Balad'' (''Downtown Girls'').

In 2006 he appeared as the lead in ''Leabet el hob'' (''The Game of Love'') – for which he received Best Actor at the Alexandra International Film Festival. He also appeared in Tamer El-Bustani's independent short film: ''Qutat Baladi'' (''Stray Cats''). In the same year he was introduced to English speaking audiences in the role of Gabe Hassan in the American/Canadian production ''Civic Duty, ''It premiered a
Tribecca film Festival
in New york, and nominated at the Cairo International Film Festival 2007, his performance created a lot of attention to his talent and since then was often described by media as the next Omar Sharif''.''

In a review of '' In the Heliopolis Flat'', Mohamed El-Assyouti of Al-Ahram Weekly noted a tendency for Abol Naga "to have been type-cast as the middle-class romantic star co-lead in almost all his films this year". His subsequent portrayal of Farid in the crime mystery ''Kashf Hesab'' gained him more positive critical attention. In the same year, Abol Naga played the lead Ez in the action/thriller/drama ''Agamista''. In 2008 he portrayed Ramez in the comedy ''Habibi Naeman''. In 2009 he appeared as a lead Cherif in ''One-Zero'' and then produced and appeared as the lead in first time director Ahmad Abdalla's ''Heliopolis'' as ''Ibrahim''. In 2010 he continued the working relationship by starring in and co-producing Abdalla's second film: ''Microphone''. Originally due for mainstream release in Cairo on January 26, 2011, the film was re-released after the protests in Tahrir Square and won numerous awards and gained a regional and worldwide acclaim.

Naga has a record of presence at International Film Festivals, either as a performer or a jury member. In 2009–2010 attended 12 international film festivals including the Venice Film Festival, Toronto's TIFF, Vancouver's VIFF, Cairo's CIFF, Abu Dhabi's ADIFF, Doha Tribeca Film Festival, London's BFI, and Thessaloniki FF, inviting him either as a jury member or as an actor in his award-winning movies "'' ''Microphone''''", "''One-Zero''" or "''Heliopolis''".

In an interview in 2010 Abol Naga said "From the industry side, my biggest challenge is to find original roles".

Naga achieved a historical winning of all important Best Actor Awards offered in Egypt in 2014(Egypt's National Film Festival, Film Society Festival for Egyptian Cinema, Egyptian Catholic Center for Cinema Festival) for his role in "''Villa 69''" as well as winning The Best Actor award (SILVER PYRAMID) from The prestigious Cairo International Film Festival for his role in the Palestinian submission to the OSCAR's "''Eyes of a thief''" among other regional Best Actor awards, in the same year, he also won several regional awards for his incredible portrayal of an older man ''Hussein'' in "''Villa 69''" including the Best Actor Award from Festival du Cinema Africain Khouribga, Morocco ''(Khaled is the Lead Actor & Executive-Producer)''

Theatre

Naga's theatre work started in 1989 with his university plays at The Department of Theatre, Drama and Music of the American university in Cairo, his work as a theatrical actor included a variety of roles; in some instances like ''Mahfouz-yat'' (1990) and ''Two Underground'' (1994) he has played more than one role in a single production, in the production of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!, he played Bill Sikes as well as worked as an assistant director to Walter Eyesslinck, He collected few awards as an actor and director of varsity plays.

In 2010 he became involved as filming director of the student play production of ''The BuSSy monologues'' – "True stories about young men and women in Egypt".

On Saturday 13 April 2013, the play written by Nassim Soleimanpour

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