Mena Massoud

Mena Mansour Massoud (Arabic: مينا منصور مسعود; born September 17, 1991) is an Egyptian-born Canadian actor. He made his film debut in the 2017 Canadian dramatic thriller Ordinary Days. His breakthrough came with playing the title character in the Disney fantasy film Aladdin (2019), which earned him nominations for a Teen Choice Award and two National Film & TV Awards.

Massoud also had roles in the Canadian drama series Open Heart (2015), the Amazon Prime series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018) and the Hulu series Reprisal (2019). He starred in the Netflix film The Royal Treatment (2022) and the horror film The Sacrifice Game (2023), the latter of which he also executive produced.

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, who 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 immigrate to Canada."

Massoud 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.

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 color 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, which premiered at the Atlantic International University. 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. The film was a critical and commercial success, passing $1 billion in the global box office, and he received nominations for a Teen Choice Award and two National Film & TV Award nominations. In the months following the film's release, Massoud said that "I haven’t had a single audition since Aladdin came out". His role as Aladdin is credited with presenting a more positive and vibrant portrayal of an Arab character in Hollywood. Also in 2019, he played Ethan Hart in the Hulu original series Reprisal, Chaz in the thriller film Strange but True, and Kamal in the drama film Run This Town.