Toronto actor takes magic carpet ride to stardom
Mena Massoud, who dropped neuroscience to study drama, will star in Disney’s Aladdin
When Toronto actor Mena Massoud, 25, was announced as the star of Disney’s live-action Aladdin on Saturday, he had 4,042 followers on Instagram. By Tuesday, he had more than quintupled that to 23,200.
Rarely has overnight success (OK, technically three nights) been as sudden as it has for the unknown Egyptian-Canadian whose own wishes of Hollywood stardom were granted when he was cast as the swaggering “street rat,” the beloved title character of Disney’s 1992 animated musical.
Though he always knew he wanted to be an actor, as a teenager, Mena Massoud (pronounced Mee-nah Mah-sood) has said he dropped out of drama to focus on science and math while a student at St. Brother André Catholic High School in Markham.
Though he studied neuroscience for a year at the University of Toronto, he ulti- mately dropped out of the program and enrolled in Ryerson’s School of Performance, graduating in 2014.
“A lot of the Egyptian community is made up of doctors, pharmacists and engineers,” he said in a 2015 interview with the Markham Economist & Sun. “All throughout high school I took sciences, but eventually I chose to pursue what I truly want to do.
“I love my parents and we have a terrific relationship. They have been very supportive of my career choice.”
Massoud was born in Egypt, but moved to Toronto when he was just 3. While he built his resumé with roles in escapist Toronto-shot TV productions such as Nikita, Combat Hospital, teen hospital drama Open Heart and Saving Hope, his personal life was touched by tragedy.
On Instagram last year, he paid tribute to the late Sarmad Iskandar, a fellow Ryerson theatre student who drowned in Lake Ontario in 2012.
He posted a photo last March of them together with the hashtag “#BFF” and the caption, “Always on my mind, forever in my heart, eternally a part of my soul. Your legend is forever.”
Through 2017, Massoud has been splitting his time between Toronto, Los Angeles and Montreal, where Amazon’s series Jack Ryan has been filming with The Office’s John Krasinski in the title role. Massoud plays Tarek Kassar, a CIA analyst. His busier acting schedule could mean fewer side gigs: just a year ago, he posted a photo of himself working in 40-degree heat at El Catrin in the Distillery District.
Aladdin begins shooting in London next month. Disney and director Guy Ritchie reportedly auditioned 2,000 actors for the title role and that of Princess Jasmine, with Oscar nominee Dev Patel and Rogue One’s Riz Ahmed also in the running for the lead.
Naomi Scott, who played Pink Ranger Kimberly in this year’s Power Rangers movie, has been cast as Jasmine. Will Smith will play the Genie role made famous by the late Robin Williams.
Disney is no doubt hoping this worldwide open call has a smoother aftermath than its recent exhaustive search for a young Han Solo. A 2,500actor search for an upcoming Star Wars prequel selected Hail Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich. Then the film’s would-be directors, Lego Movie veterans Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were fired last month from the troubled production; meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter wrote that the 27-year-old Ehrenreich is now working with an acting coach.
Physically, at least, Massoud appears ready for his close-up. The actor shares regular updates on his physical fitness on Instagram, mentioning a vegan diet and “intermittent fasting,” which might be contributing to a lean-muscle physique and six-pack fit for Aladdin’s shirtless-with-a-vest look.
And he already has some experience bringing a Disney animated classic to life. In one Instagram post, he’s seen recreating the iconic spaghetti-eating sequence from 1955’s Lady and the Tramp with a male friend. Let’s just hope he quits before tackling Bambi’s gazing-in-wonderat-the-butterfly-on-his-butt bit.