DUBAI: The passion came to Egyptian actress Mayan El-Sayed early. The clearest memories she has of her childhood, the ones that shaped the person she would become, are watching her country’s icons Mona Zaki and Yousra on screen, marveling at their talent, their joy, and their consummate skill. Now 25, El-Sayed has become one of the most successful young actors in the Arab world, and she’s learning to be something she never dreamed of: a true star. And her heroes are showing her the way forward. She worked with Zaki in the acclaimed hit “Newton’s Cradle” in 2021, and with Yousra in the Ramadan drama “Civil War” that same year.
“I’m still just starting out in a lot of ways, but every day I watch Yousra on set, and every day I learn something,” El-Sayed tells Arab News. “No matter what’s going on, she’s always on time, she always knows her lines, and she’s always the first one ready. That gave me so much inspiration. I studied how to become an actor, but Yousra made me learn how to be a star, and that’s huge.”
This Ramadan, she has teamed up with the 68-year-old icon once again, this time in a pure comedy — uncharted waters for El-Sayed. The series — “1000 Hamdela Al Salama” — follows Yousra as a recent widow who returns with her children to Egypt to recover the inheritance they’re owed.
Drama was hard enough. But a slapstick, over-the-top Egyptian comedy? The idea was daunting to El-Sayed, who was initially afraid to put herself out there, knowing that comedy is an art form that leaves you nowhere to hide. She had never tried this in her life, and now one of the funniest women in Egypt’s history, a frequent collaborator of Adel Emam, was her scene partner. How, she wondered, could she live up to the comedy greats of Egypt’s past and present?
“I was genuinely scared,” says El-Sayed. “Egyptians, and Arabs in general, have an amazing sense of humor. They’re a very funny people. And if you’re going to make them laugh, you have to be even funnier.”
El-Sayed settled on a very physical comedic style inspired by one of her favorite performances — David Schwimmer as Ross from the perennial American hit “Friends.”
“Ross was my biggest inspiration. Sure, Chandler would always have the funniest lines, but it always felt like Matthew Perry was a naturally funny person. With Ross, it felt more like practice, like skill. So I prepared myself for every scene, I learned how to be free and react physically, trying again and again until it felt natural — until it looked like there wasn’t much effort at all, just like Ross,” says El-Sayed.
Mayan El-Sayed (left) with Mona Zaki in 'Newton's Cradle.' (Supplied)
She is quick to credit her collaborators for making her feel safe throughout that process, letting her experiment in front of them every day until she found her comedic voice.
“I really trusted everyone around me, from the director to the producer to all of my co-stars, as they really let me take risks. My relationship with Yousra grew even more. And Mohammed Tharwat and Shaimaa Saif who also appear on the show are two of the funniest comedians in the country, and they were so generous with me, even handing me punchlines they came up with in the moment,” says El-Sayed.
This modesty isn’t just a matter of inexperience — it’s El Sayed’s character. Other actors who have experienced the kind of success she has had in just a few years often let it go to her head. After quickly finding success once she began auditioning, her big break came in 2021 when she landed that role in “Newton’s Cradle” opposite her childhood hero Zaki. It was a busy year, one in which she received huge acclaim for her starring performance in “Ela Ana Helm Hayaty,” which she followed up with a key role in the smash hit “El Ekhtayar 3.”
The resulting fame wasn’t something she was ready for. She was still marveling at the fact she was performing with the actors who had originally inspired her. Now, at the same age Zaki was when El-Sayed first saw her on screen, the young actress still has trouble processing the fact that young girls are now looking up to her in the same way.
“That’s so scary to me,” El-Sayed says. “They tell me that they want to be like me, but I don’t know if I’m at a point in my life where I can be inspirational. I still have a lot to learn about myself.”
There has been feedback, though, that has stuck with her and helped guide her choices. It’s the messages she received after “Ela Ana Helm Hayaty,” in which she played a young woman with autism.
“That was the best thing that happened in my life, because that was the first time I realized I have the power to change the world through art, through acting,” says El-Sayed. “People reached out to me to tell me about their own family members with autism, and how much they loved the show. For the first time I realized I have the ability to do something bigger than me.”
Parts like that, of course, are often few and far between, especially in an environment such as Egypt, where the arthouse scene is still relatively marginalized and almost every film and TV show is geared towards the mass market. El-Sayed realized that if she wanted to play parts that meant something, the sorts of roles that could change the world, she couldn’t just wait for them to come along — she would have to create those opportunities herself.
“I’m participating in a writing workshop at the moment, because I want to be one of the people writing these characters, speaking about important topics and raising awareness for the types of stories many people ignore,” she says. “I learned that I have the power, but having power means nothing unless you use it.”
While she takes writing classes every day, the young star continues to take role after role, even finding the occasional project that matches her true aspirations. El-Sayed’s next role is as a girl with Tourette’s syndrome, and it’s one of her favorites so far.
“Before I filmed, I met a girl with the syndrome and I learned from her experience, and we really bonded. When I started filming, I brought her with me to set, and she was overjoyed to see her experience played out in front of her. And the screenplay I’m working on in class is about the deaf community, and my plan is to meet with a young girl in that community and learn from her too — to make this story real, and to share that experience with the world,” El-Sayed says. “This is really my passion now. This is my job — to make the world better.”
