Amir El-Masry

Amir El-Masry (Arabic: أمير المصري) is an Egyptian-British actor. He won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in the film Limbo (2020) and was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. He was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 Screen International Star of Tomorrow.[1][2]

Amir El-Masry
أمير المصري
El-Masry in 2022
Alma mater
OccupationActor
Years active2008–present

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.[3]

Early life and education

Born to an Egyptian family, El-Masry was brought up in Acton, West London.[4] He attended Tower House School and the Harrodian School. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Criminology and Sociology from Royal Holloway, University of London.[5] After interning at a law firm, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), graduating in 2013.[6][2]

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.[5] 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.[2]

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 debut as Alireza in Jon Stewart's Rosewater.[7] He had guest roles in the internationally co-produced Transporter: The Series and the FX series Tyrant, and appeared in the BBC Three pilot Rude Boys.[8]

El-Masry received praise for his performance as Youssef in the 2016 BBC One miniseries The Night Manager. This was followed by 2017 roles in the Channel 4 serial The State and the independent film Lost in London. That same year, El-Masry made his professional stage debut in the Royal Court Theatre production of Goats[9][10] and appeared in the Danish series Herrens Veje.

In 2018, El-Masry played Dante in the BBC One drama Age Before Beauty and had a recurring role as Ibrahim in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime.[11] 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 Limbo. 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 of The Guardian and The Playlist.[12] El-Masry had television roles in the first series of the BBC One and HBO series Industry as Usman Abboud in 2020 and the Netflix science fiction series The One as Ben Naser in 2021.

El-Masry was cast as a young Mohamed Al-Fayed in the fifth season of the Netflix Royal Family drama The Crown.[13] He also has a recurring role in the BBC World War II 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.[14]

Personal life

El-Masry lives in Acton, London. He is Muslim.[15] During the COVID-19 lockdown, El-Masry helped to launch MENA Arts UK.[16][17]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2008Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein HamoudaRamzy
2010El-Talatah YishtaghaloonhaNabil
2014RosewaterAlireza
2017Lost in LondonOmar
FarsideSayeedShort film
2018ShootAnmar Almadi
2019Held for RansomJohn
Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerCommander Trach
2020LimboOmar
2021The ProtocolHugoShort film
Ritsa (film) [ar]
2023Club Zero
A Haunting in VeniceAlessandro Longo
In CameraConrad
2022#GAWEZNIWith Mayan El Sayed
TBAGiantNaseem HamedFilming

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2013CasualtyNaveedEpisode: "Special: Scars and Nightmares"
2014BBC Comedy FeedsBoltsEpisode: "Rude Boys"
Transporter: The SeriesAyoub Al-JifriEpisode: "Beacon of Hope"
2015TyrantMusaEpisode: "Mark of Cain"
2016The Night ManagerYoussefMiniseries; 2 episodes
2017The StateSayedMiniseries; 3 episodes
Herrens vejeTolken2 episodes
2018McMafiaTarek2 episodes
Age Before BeautyDanteMain role
Jack RyanIbrahimRecurring role; 7 episodes
2019El-Brinseesa BeesaKazemMain role
2020IndustryUsman AbboudMain role, season 1 (4 episodes)
2021The OneBen Naser6 episodes
2022SAS: Rogue HeroesDr. Gamal3 episodes
The CrownMohamed Al-FayedEpisode: "Mou Mou"
2023VigilDaniel Ramsayseries 2

Video games

YearTitleRoleNotes
2016Deus Ex: Mankind DividedAdditional voices
2017Assassin's Creed: OriginsVoice
Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2

Stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
2017GoatsAdnanRoyal Court Theatre, London
2019The AbyssEdinburgh Fringe Festival[18]

Audio

YearTitleRoleNotes
2014The InsiderJosephBBC Radio 3
The BrickEliasBBC Radio 4
The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the WarTariq
The Puppet MasterJamil
In Praise of Radical FishReader
2015Rasselas, Prince of AbyssiniaAhmed
The Road to Bani WalidHusam / Malik
Oil: The WeaponYoussuf

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryWorkResultRef.
2009Egyptian Cinema Oscar FestivalBest Movie DebutRamadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein HamoudaWon[19]
2021British Independent Film AwardsBest ActorLimboNominated
British Academy Scotland AwardsBest Actor in a FilmWon
2022Chlotrudis AwardsBest ActorNominated

References