Amir El-Masry () is an Egyptian actor. He won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in the film Limbo (2020) and was nominated for a British Independent Film Award. He was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 Screen International Star of Tomorrow.
El-Masry debuted in Egyptian cinema, appearing in the Egyptian comedy Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda (2008), for which he was awarded Best Movie Debut at the Egyptian Cinema Oscar Festival.
Early life and education Born on 2 August 1990 to an Egyptian family, El-Masry was brought up in Acton, West London. He attended Tower House School and the Harrodian School. He went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in criminology and sociology from Royal Holloway, University of London. After interning at a law firm, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), graduating in 2013.
Career After a conversation with actor Omar Sharif while his father was on a business trip, El-Masry met a screenwriter at a screening of Hassan and Marcus and made his debut in Egyptian cinema, appearing in the Egyptian comedy films Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda (2008), as Ramzy and El-Talatah Yishtaghaloonha (2010), as Nabil. For the former, El-Masry was awarded Best Movie Debut at the 2009 Egyptian Cinema Oscar Festival. He took time out of his first year at Royal Holloway to be in the latter.
After graduating from LAMDA, El-Masry first appeared on British television in a 2013 episode of the medical soap opera Casualty as Naveed. The following year, he made his Hollywood debut as Alireza in Jon Stewart's Rosewater. He had guest roles in the internationally co-produced Transporter: The Series and the FX series Tyrant, and appeared in the BBC Three pilot Rude Boys.
El-Masry received praise for his performance as Youssef in the 2016 BBC One miniseries The Night Manager. This was followed by 2017 roles in the Channel 4 serial The State and the independent film Lost in London. That same year, El-Masry made his professional stage debut in the Royal Court Theatre production of Goats and appeared in the Danish series Herrens Veje.
In 2018, El-Masry played Dante in the BBC One drama Age Before Beauty and had a recurring role as Ibrahim in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime. He starred in the film Shoot. The following year, he played Kazem in the Egyptian series El-Brinseesa Beesa and Commander Trach in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
El-Masry starred as refugee Omar in Ben Sharrock's Limbo. For his performance, he won Best Actor in a Film at the 2021 British Academy Scotland Awards. He was also nominated for a British Independent Film Award (BIFA) and a Chlotrudis Award, and appeared on end-of-year lists from Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian and The Playlist. El-Masry had television roles in the first series of the BBC One and HBO series Industry as Usman Abboud in 2020 and the Netflix science fiction series The One as Ben Naser in 2021.
El-Masry was cast as a young Mohamed Al-Fayed in the fifth season of the Netflix Royal Family drama The Crown. He also has a recurring role in the BBC World War II drama SAS: Rogue Heroes and Jessica Hausner's Club Zero.
In April 2024, it was announced that he had been cast as Prince Naseem in the biopic Giant. After starting in Giant, he appeared as a guest star in the Egyptian biopic film El Sett, by Marwan Hamed, in which he appeared as a sound Engineer in a scene with Mona Zaki, who played the character of Egyptian legendary singer Umm Kulthum. In 2026, he starred in the Egyptian anthology film The Stories by Abu Bakr Shawky. In September 2026, the film was selected as the Egyptian entry in the 99th Academy Awards.
In 2026, El-Masry was selected as president of the First Feature Competition jury at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival.
Personal life El-Masry lives in Acton, London. He is Muslim. In September 2025, he signed an open pledge with Film Workers for Palestine pledging not to work with Israeli film institutions "that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people."
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2008 Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda Ramzy 2010 El-Talatah Yishtaghaloonha Nabil 2014 Rosewater Alireza 2017 Lost in London Omar Farside Sayeed Short film 2018 Shoot Anmar Almadi 2019 Held for Ransom John Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Commander Trach 2020 Limbo Omar 2021 The Protocol Hugo Short film Ritsa Husam Haddad 2023 Club Zero Mr. Dahl A Haunting in Venice Alessandro Longo In Camera Conrad 2022 #GAWEZNI Fares 2025 100 Nights of Hero Jerome Giant Naseem Hamed El Sett Sound Engineer Guest appearance 2026 The Stories Ahmad
Television Year Title Role Notes 2013 Casualty Naveed Episode: "Special: Scars and Nightmares" 2014 BBC Comedy Feeds Bolts Episode: "Rude Boys" Transporter: The Series Ayoub Al-Jifri Episode: "Beacon of Hope" 2015 Tyrant Musa Episode: "Mark of Cain" 2016 The Night Manager Youssef Miniseries; 2 episodes 2017 The State Sayed Miniseries; 3 episodes Herrens veje Tolken 2 episodes 2018 McMafia Tarek 2 episodes Age Before Beauty Dante Main role Jack Ryan Ibrahim Recurring role; 7 episodes 2019 El-Brinseesa Beesa Kazem Main role 2020 Industry Usman Abboud Main role, season 1 (4 episodes) 2021 The One Ben Naser 6 episodes 2022 SAS: Rogue Heroes Dr. Gamal 3 episodes The Crown Mohamed Al-Fayed Episode: "Mou Mou" 2023 Vigil Daniel Ramsay series 2 2024 Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light Thomas Wyatt 2026The AgencySaeed Al Bakhatirseason 2
Video games Year Title Role Notes 2016 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Additional voices 2017 Assassin's Creed: Origins Voice Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2
Stage Year Title Role Notes 2017 Goats Adnan Royal Court Theatre, London 2019 The Abyss Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Audio Year Title Role Notes 2014 The Insider Joseph BBC Radio 3 The Brick Elias BBC Radio 4 The Boy from Aleppo who Painted the War Tariq The Puppet Master Jamil In Praise of Radical Fish Reader 2015 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia Ahmed The Road to Bani Walid Husam / Malik Oil: The Weapon Youssuf
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result Ref. 2009 Egyptian Cinema Oscar Festival Best Movie Debut Ramadan Mabrouk Abu El Alamein Hamouda 2021 British Independent Film Awards Best Actor Limbo British Academy Scotland Awards Best Actor in a Film 2022 Chlotrudis Awards Best Actor
References
External links
Amir El-Masry at Independent Talent