9 Things You Don't Know About Mena Massoud (Disney's Live Action Aladdin)

Massoud was born in Cairo, Egypt to Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian parents. He has two older sisters. His family immigrated to Canada when he was three years old. About his family's immigration to Canada Massoud stated: "I was born there. We immigrated when I was 3 1/2 years old, to Toronto. But I'm still very, very close to my culture and - back home in Egypt. We're - 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." He grew up in Markham, Ontario, where he attended St. Brother André Catholic High School. 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 Yassin and Adel Imam. 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 launched his career as a professional actor in 2011, when he appeared briefly in single episodes of the television series Nikita and Combat Hospital. He also starred as Jared Malik in the 2015 series Open Heart, and Tarek Kassar in the Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan. In 2017, it was announced that Massoud had been cast in the role of Aladdin in Disney's 2019 live-action adaptation of Aladdin. While talking about playing the role, he said: "I was excited to finally have an opportunity to play a character that wasn't a terrorist and didn't have a negative connotation on them. This has a very positive connotation. It's an inspiring film, an inspiring role. And I was just excited to finally have a shot at something like that." Also stating that it is an important movie for representation of People of Colour in Hollywood. Massoud was joking along with Guy Ritchie that Aladdin is going to hit the one billion dollar mark in the box office. Ironically, the movie has surged past USD one billion in worldwide collections. Massoud is vegan and is the founder of the plant-based food travel show Evolving Vegan. In September 2019, Massoud was officially announced as Egypt's ambassador for ‘Speak Egyptian’ initiative, which seeks to protect the Arab identity of the Egyptian diaspora and in particular Arab children. Massoud launched a charitable foundation with the aim to support talented artists from underrepresented groups and help them start in his native Canada before setting up in Los Angeles. Massoud struggled in his early career in Toronto before his role in Aladdin. He mentions that casting for lead roles is done out of LA and the foundation aims to change that by helping them secure mentors, aid for training and pay for headshots to get them in front of casting directors.