I defied all the conditioning, it was hard: May Calamawy
EThere is deep conditioning growing up [as a girl] in the Middle East. My parents wanted me to be married and have children by a certain age. MAY CALAMAWY, Actor
gyptian-Palestinian actor May Calamawy was offered a life set in all the stereotypes attached to women, but she rebelled to do things her own way. She says, “There is so much deep conditioning growing up [as a girl] in the Middle East. My parents wanted me to look a certain way, work in a certain field, be married and have children by a certain age.” After doing small roles in TV shows such as Madame Secretary, The Brave and FBI, Calamawy got the ticket to go trace her roots on screen when she picked the character of an Arab woman in Ramy (American TV series). She took another step in the direction when she became Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first Arab leading lady in the web series Moon Knight, which takes a note out of Egyptian culture in the superhero world. “It was important for me to show Egypt in an authentic way. And Mohamed Diab (writer of Moon Knight) brought it.
It is so important to work with people who are from the region to bring that onto the screen,” she says.
While she is busy spinning her web of stardom in the West, there was a time when she studied industrial design at her father’s request. She did roles in short films, taking baby steps towards her family’s approval. “I defied all the conditioning. I was like, ‘I am going to do it my way.’ And it was hard, because you doubt yourself,” says the 35-year-old, who followed her dream that led her to Hollywood. “For me, that (making it to Hollywood) was the biggest blessing,” adds the actor.
Working on Moon Knight was an enriching experience for Calamawy, as she learnt to believe in herself: “I’d be in a room full of men and my costars are very strong men, who have been working for a long time. They trust their instincts and I had to really keep up. It was uncomfortable, because my instinct is to want to ask, ‘Can you help me?’ I did have moments where I asked, but somewhere, I decided to figure it out myself and that helped.”