Mena Mansour Massoud is an Egyptian Canadian actor known for starring as the title character in the Disney fantasy film Aladdin (2019). He also starred as Jared Malik in the Canadian drama series Open Heart (2015), Tarek Kassar in the Amazon Prime series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018), Ethan Hart in the Hulu series Reprisal (2019), and Prince Thomas in the Netflix original film The Royal Treatment (2022).
What is Mena Massoud’s Religious Inclination?
Mena Massoud was born on September 17, 1991, in Cairo, Egypt. His nationality is Canadian, and his horoscope sign is Virgo. His ethnicity is Egyptian-Canadian, and his religion is Christianity.
Mini Bio on Mena Massoud
Mena Mansour Massoud was born on September 17, 1991, in Cairo to Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian parents Gorgit and Mansour Massoud. He has two elder sisters, Marian and Margaret both work in the medical field. He and his family emigrated to Canada when he was three years old. When asked why his family left Egypt, 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 Coptic Christian and my parents just felt like things were getting a little too dangerous when I was growing up in Egypt. They wanted to create a better life for their family, so they decided to emigrate to Canada.” Massoud grew up in Markham, Ontario, where he attended St. Brother André Catholic High School, where he was the head of the improv team. He later attended the University of Toronto with a major in neuroscience, in the pursuit of becoming a doctor or psychologist. He did not finish this degree, and instead auditioned for theatre schools. Massoud eventually transferred to Ryerson University for their theatre performance program, which he graduated from in 2014.
Conclusion
Massoud began acting in 2011, with guest appearances on the television series Nikita and Combat Hospital. His role in Nikita, being his first ever on-screen role, was of a terrorist. In an interview with The Daily Beast, it was stated that this role made him set a goal for himself to “find characters who aren’t terrorists or bring negative connotations because of the colour of their skin or ethnicity.”
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 series Jack 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, and two National Film & TV Award nominations. The December after the movie’s release, and five months after the film passed $1 billion in the global box office, Massoud openly spoke about how the film’s success has translated into his career. He stated, “I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out,” and explained that his career has not seen much growth despite the film.
In the same year, he was cast in the main role of Ethan Hart in the Hulu original series Reprisal. Also in 2019, he appeared as Chaz in the thriller film Strange but True and starred as Kamal in the drama film Run This Town.
