Mena Massoud is an Egyptian-Canadian actor who is known for starring as the titular character in the Disneyfantasy filmAladdin. He also starred as Jared Malik in the Canadian-drama series Open Heart, Tarek Kassar in the Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan, and currently stars as Ethan Hart in the Hulu series Reprisal.
Early life
Massoud was born in Cairo, Egypt to Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian parents. He has two older sisters. He and his family immigrated to Canada when he was three years old. Massoud stated, "we're Coptic Christian. And my parents just felt like things were getting a little too dangerous when I was growing up. And they wanted to create a better life for their family. So they decided to immigrate." Massoud grew up in Markham, Ontario, where he attended St. Brother AndréCatholic High School. He is a vegan. Massoud is a huge admirer of Egyptian comedy movies, in an interview with the BBC, he stated how his Egyptian heritage has inspired him as a comedian, stating: "I grew up watching Egyptian comedy films by the great Egyptian comedians such as Ismail Yassine and Adel Emam. The way they entertain the audience with not only their words but with their body language and facial expressions is totally different from that of the actors here. I played a lot of comedy roles in American productions. My role in Aladdin is also a comedy role. I believe I play comedy roles with a different taste that I learned from our own Egyptian cinema and this makes it appealing in a different way".
Career
Massoud began acting in 2011, guest appearing on the television series Nikita and Combat Hospital. In 2015, he was cast as Jared Malik in the Canadian-drama series Open Heart, which was cancelled after one season. In 2017, he starred as Ollie Santos in the film Ordinary Days. In 2018, he had a recurring role as Tarek Kassar in the Amazon Prime original seriesJack Ryan. In 2019, Massoud portrayed the titular character in Disney's fantasy-adventure film Aladdin, which is a live-action adaption of the animated film of the same name. For his performance, he received a Teen Choice Award nomination. In the same year, he was cast in the main role of Ethan Hart in the Hulu original seriesReprisal. Also in 2019, he appeared as Chaz in the thriller filmStrange but True, and starred as Kamal in the drama filmRun This Town.
