Amir El-Masry ( ar, أمير المصري; born 2 August 1990) is an Egyptian-British actor. He won a

Scottish BAFTA BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

for his performance in the film ''

Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...

'' (2020) and was nominated for a

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

. He was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 '' Screen International'' 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

El-Masry was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, Egypt and brought up in Acton, West London. He attended

Tower House School Tower House School is an independent prep school for boys aged 4 to 13 . Established in 1932, it is in located in East Sheen, near Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Notable former pupils * Adam Boulton * ...

and the Harrodian School. He went on to graduate with a

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

in Criminology and Sociology from Royal Holloway, University of London. After interning at a law firm, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), graduating in 2013.

Career

After a conversation with actor Omar Sharif 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 Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' as Naveed. The following year, he made his Hollywood debut as Alireza in Jon Stewart'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 re ...

'', and appeared in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

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 network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

miniseries ''

The Night Manager ''The Night Manager'' is an espionage novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1993. It is his first post- Cold War novel, detailing an undercover operation to bring down a major international arms dealer. Plot summary Jonathan Pin ...

''. This was followed by 2017 roles in the

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 ...

serial ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'' 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 non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

production of ''Goats'' and appeared in the Danish series ''

Herrens Veje ''Herrens Veje'' ''( en, The Lord's Ways)'', entitled ''Ride Upon the Storm'' in the English-language subtitled version, is a 2017 Danish drama television series created by Adam Price, produced by Camilla Hammerich and starring Lars Mikkelsen. ...

''. In 2018, El-Masry played Dante in the

drama ''

Age Before Beauty ''Age Before Beauty'' is a BBC television drama series by Debbie Horsfield that premiered on BBC One on 31 July 2018. The six-part series is based in Manchester, England, and stars Robson Green, Sue Johnston, Polly Walker and James Murray. Pl ...

'' and had a recurring role as Ibrahim in ''

Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan ''Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan'' (also known simply as ''Jack Ryan'') is an American political action thriller television series, based on characters from the fictional "Ryanverse" created by Tom Clancy, that premiered on August 31, 2018, on Amazon ...

'' on Amazon Prime. 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

(BIFA) and a

Chlotrudis Award The Chlotrudis Society for Independent Films is a nonprofit organization that honors outstanding achievement in independent and world cinema. The organization gives out the Chlotrudis Awards. Membership in the Society includes "the Boston film comm ...

, and appeared on end-of-year lists from

Peter Bradshaw Peter 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''. Early life and education Bradshaw was educated at Haberdasher ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

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

and HBO series ''

Industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

'' as Usman Abboud in 2020 and the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

science fiction series ''

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

'' as Ben Naser in 2021. El-Masry has been cast as a young Mohamed Al-Fayed in the fifth season of the

Royal Family drama ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

drama '' SAS: Rogue Heroes'' and

Jessica Hausner Jessica Hausner (born 6 October 1972) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. She received international attention in 2001 when her film ''Lovely Rita'', a portrait of a young girl who feels confined by family constraints, was screened i ...

's ''Club Zero''.

Personal life

El-Masry lives in

Acton, London Acton () is a town and area in west London, England, within the London Borough of Ealing. It is west of Charing Cross. At the 2011 census, its four wards, East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 62,480, a ...

. He is Muslim. During lockdown, 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 1990 births 21st-century English male actors English Muslims Egyptian Muslims Egyptian emigrants to England English male film actors Egyptian male film actors English male television actors Male actors from Cairo Male actors from London People from Acton, London People from Ealing