''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 aer ...

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 serie ...

. In May 2019, Hulu renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 29, 2020. The series stars

Ramy Youssef Ramy Youssef ( ar, رامي يوسف; ; born March 26, 1991) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director of full Egyptian descent known for his role as Ramy Hassan on the Hulu comedy series '' Ramy'' (2019–present), for whic ...

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 t ...

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 netw ...

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 Emm ...

, 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 Delaware ...

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 transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian community that thinks life is a moral test, and a generation that thinks life has no consequences."

Cast and characters

Main

as Ramy Hassan, the protagonist of the series. He is a

millennial Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

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 Hiam Abbass ( ar, هيام عباس, he, היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director. Personal life Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a Muslim Arab family. She was raised ...

as Maysa Hassan, Ramy's mother. *

Dave Merheje Dave Merheje is a Canadian stand-up comedian.

as Ahmed, Ramy's friend and a doctor. *

Amr Waked Amr Waked ( ar, عمرو واكد ; born ) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film ''Syriana''. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh calle ...

as Farouk Hassan, Ramy's father. *

May Calamawy May El Calamawy ( ar, مي القلماوي, , born October 28, 1986) is an Egyptian-Palestinian actress who has worked and resided in the United States since 2015. She is known for her roles in the American television series '' Ramy'' as Dena H ...

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 Laith Nakli (born December 1, 1969) is a British-Syrian-American actor and producer of Syrian descent best known for his role in the 2017 movie ''The Wall'' as the voice of the mythical sniper named Juba, the 2017 miniseries ''The Long Road Home ...

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 commercia ...

, when Ramy is alienated due to his Muslim faith *

Mahershala Ali Mahershala Ali (; born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore, February 16, 1974) is an American actor. He has received multiple accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. ''Time'' magazine named him one of th ...

as Sheikh Ali Malik (season 2) *

MaameYaa Boafo MaameYaa Boafo (pronounced "Mah-Mih-Yah Bwafoh") is a Pakistan-born Ghanaian actress and comedian. Biography Boafo was born in Pakistan. She is of Ashanti (Ghanaian) ethnicity. She was raised in Sudan, Ethiopia, Geneva and Kenya, but is a citiz ...

as Zainab (season 2 and 3) *

Rosaline Elbay Rosaline Elbay ( ar, روزالين البيه; ) is an Egyptian stage and screen actress, producer and writer. She is known for her roles as Judy Goodwin on the Netflix series '' Kaleidoscope,'' Amani on the Hulu/ A24 Films series ''Ramy'', and ...

as Amani, Ramy's cousin (season 1 and 2) *Shadi Alfons as Shadi (season 1 and 2) *Kate Miller as Vivian *

Michael Chernus Michael Louis Chernus (born August 8, 1977) is an American actor. He has acted on film, television, and the stage. He is perhaps best known for his role as Cal Chapman on the Netflix original comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013 ...

as Michael *

Jade Eshete Jade Eshete (born January 9, 1985) is an American television and film actress. She starred on the BBC America series ''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency''. Early life Jade Eshete was born to Guyanese and Ethiopian parents in Brooklyn, N ...

as Fatima *

Poorna Jagannathan Poorna Jagannathan is an American producer and actress of Indian descent. She is best known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO drama miniseries ''The Night Of'', as well for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy seri ...

as Salma (season 1) *

Molly Gordon Molly June Gordon is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in the drama TV series '' Animal Kingdom'' (2016–2018), as Nicky, and in the comedy films '' Life of the Party'' (2018) as Maddie, ''Booksmart'' (2019) as Triple A, and ...

as Sarah (season 1 and 3) *

Jared Abrahamson Jared Abrahamson is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance in the 2016 film '' Hello Destroyer'', for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor and won the award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film at the Vancouve ...

as Dennis (season 2) * Rana Roy as Yasmina (guest season 1 and 2; recurring season 3) * Julian Sergi as Yuval (season 3)

Guest

Dina Shihabi Dina Shihabi ( ar, دينا الشهابي; born September 21, 1989) is a Saudi Arabian actress working in the United States. Early life and education Shihabi was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and was raised in Saudi Arabia, Beirut, and Dubai. He ...

as Nour (season 1) *

Jake Lacy Jake Lacy (born February 14, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Pete Miller on the ninth and final season of ''The Office'', as Fran Parker in the fourth and fifth seasons of HBO's ''Girls'', and his role as Shane Patt ...

as Kyle (season 1) *

Anna Konkle Anna Konkle (born April 7, 1987) is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for co-creating and starring as Anna Kone on Hulu's original TV comedy series ''PEN15'', alongside Maya Erskine. Her work on the series earned her two Pr ...

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 as herself (season 2) *

Omar Metwally Omar Metwally is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Vik Ullah in the Showtime television series '' The Affair'', as well as for '' Rendition'' (2007), ''Munich'' (2005), and ''Miral'' (2010). He has also appeared in the ...

as Bin Khalied (season 2) * Beshoy Mehany as Sufi Center Attendee (season 2) * Randa Jarrar as Hosna (season 2) *

Waleed Zuaiter Waleed F. Zuaiter (; born January 16, 1971) is an Arab-American actor and producer who has performed in on-stage productions in Washington, D.C.; Berkeley, California; and New York City, as well as several film and television productions. He live ...

as Yassir (season 2) *Maybe Burke as Sophia (season 2) *

Bella Hadid Isabella Khairiah Hadid (born October 9, 1996) is an American model. In 2016, she was voted "Model of the Year" by industry professionals for Models.com. Over the span of four years, Hadid has made twenty-seven appearances on international '' ...

as Lena (season 3) *

James Badge Dale James Badge Dale (born May 1, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for playing Chase Edmunds in '' 24'', Robert Leckie in '' The Pacific'', State Trooper Barrigan in Martin Scorsese's ''The Departed'', Luke Lewenden in '' The Grey'', Eric Sa ...

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 O ...

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 Allstrea ...

as Himself (season 3) * Amy Landecker 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. Production companies involved with the series include

A24 A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...

. 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

would guest star in the second season. In November 2019, it was announced

had been upped to a series regular. On March 31, 2022, it was announced that

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 Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consis ...

. 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 enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. 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 seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, 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 countri ...

, 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 county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, as a part of the festival's "Episodic Premieres" series of screenings. It won the Episodic Audience Award for the festival.

Reception

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 Wang ...

, 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 review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy is a Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding perform ...

. He won the award at the

77th Golden Globe Awards The 77th Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2019, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Produced by Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA, the ceremony was broadcast live on January 5, 2020, fro ...

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