Amr Waked

Amr Waked (عمرو واكد ; born April 12, 1973) is an Egyptian film, television and stage actor. He is best known to international audiences and in Hollywood for his role in the 2005 film Syriana. Other prominent roles include a Yemeni Sheikh called Muhammad in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Pierre Del Rio in Luc Besson's Lucy and Farouk Hassan in ''Ramy. ''

In 2019, Waked was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Egyptian military court for spreading false news and insulting state institutions. For that reason, he has no intention of returning to Egypt. He has been residing in Spain since October 2017.

Career
Waked's first major role was in Ashab wallah business (2002) (Are we friends or just a business). Reviewers reported that he portrayed the role of "Gehad" so well that many viewers left the theater believing he was actually a Palestinian actor, rather than Egyptian. His first lead role was as Ahmed in Deil el Samaka (The Fish's tail) (2003), and in 2005 he worked alongside George Clooney in the film Syriana, for which in 2006 he won a 'Special Award for Arabs in The International Cinema' at the Cairo International Film Festival. Waked joined the cast of the Egyptian television series Lahazat Harega (Critical Moments) in 2007, shooting 32 episodes for season one.

In 2008, Waked joined the cast of the BBC/HBO television series House of Saddam to portray Saddam Hussein's son-in-law Hussein Kamel. Since the lead role of Saddam Hussein was played by Israeli actor Yigal Naor, Waked faced punishment by Egypt's Actors Union which opposes normalization of ties with Israel. The union threatened to ban him from all future projects in Egypt. Waked was also criticized by supporters of the Palestinian cause for taking acting role in Wonder Woman 1984 starring Israeli actress and former IDF soldier Gal Gadot.

In 2009, Waked co-hosted the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival, and in 2010 he rejoined the cast of Lahazat Harega. He joined Hollywood stars Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, and Gwyneth Paltrow in the 2011 film, Contagion and co-starred in the British film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen with Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, and Kristin Scott Thomas. and also co-starred in Lucy alongside Morgan Freeman and Scarlett Johansson. In 2017, he moved to Spain and was sentenced to eight years in prison by an Egyptian court for making pro-democracy comments on social media. Due to these charges, Waked is not able to return to Egypt.

Since 2019, Waked has played the father of main character Ramy Hassan on the Hulu series Ramy.

In 2021 Amr Waked hosted the web series Decoded (Dahaleez) in both Arabic and English. This was the first time he hosted for a news channel which also led him to being featured on The Muslim 500. Decoded won a Telly Award in 2022.

Theater

 * 1992, Afareet Hamza We Fatma as Hamza
 * 1992, Vinegar Tom as The Devil
 * 1993, Crimes Of The Heart as Doc
 * 1993, Al Ghaba Al Saeeda as The Fox
 * 1994, Tales From Agabad as Hero
 * 1994, Compass Berserk as Montigu
 * 1994, The Bus as Ahmed
 * 1995, Oedipus The President as Prometheus
 * 2000, Al Ze'ab Yohaddid Al Madinah as The Journalist
 * 2002, Shabab Rewish Tahn as Ahmed

Awards and nominations

 * 1999, won Film Writers and Critics Special Award at Alexandria International Film Festival
 * 1999, won Best Supporting Actor award at Alexandria International Film Festival for Gannat al shayateen
 * 2003, won Best Actor award at Alexandria International Film Festival for Dail el samakah
 * 2006, won Special Award for Arabs in The International Cinema at Cairo International Film Festival for Syriana
 * 2006, won Horus Award for Best Supporting Actor at Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema for Dam el ghazal
 * 2010, won Best Supporting Actor at Dear Guest Festival for Ibrahim Labyad
 * 2010, won Best Actor for Second Role at Cairo National Festival for Egyptian cinema for Ibrahim Labyad
 * 2013, won Best Actor at Dubai Film Festival for the Egyptian movie Winter of Discontent