Rising star Mayan El Sayed
features alongside megastar Yousra in her comedy series 1000 Hamdela Ala El Salama.
Recently, Sayed has taken
on a number of challenging and diverse roles, successfully pulling them off and proving herself a versatile actor. Egypt Today chats with the up-
and-coming talent about playing Samah in 1000 Hamdela Ala El Salama, her special relationship with Yousra,and her plans for the future.
1-Tell us about your role in 1000 Hamdela Ala El Salama
When producer Esraa El Adl first asked me to take on
the role of Samah I jumped at the chance to work with
Yousra. She really treats me like a daughter and I love her
to the extent that I am ready to perform any role, even if I
am not really sure of it, only to work with Yousra. Samah
is a young film director who was raised in Canada with her
mother Samiha (Yousra) and her brother Sameh (Adam El
Sharkawy), and who is excited to return to Egypt to explore
the Egyptian culture and society. She is also really passionate about cinema and filmmaking, wants to be like Youssef Chaine and her dream is to be a famous director in Egypt. I like Samah’s character because she is carefree and uncomplicated.
2-What did you learn from Yousra?
I learned so many things from her, she is so passionate
about what she is doing, professional, punctual, dedicated, committed and spontaneous. I love listening to her stories of working with the great Youssef Chahine and legendary actor Adel Emam. She has a vast cinematic experience that she is always keen to share and is such an inspiration to me.
3-What was it like working on the series?
The whole cast are like one united family. Shaimaa Seif
and Mohamed Tharwat have a great sense of humor, both
in front of the camera and behind it. And even though this
is his first acting experience, Einaba proved that he is very
talented, his acting performance is spontaneous and he is so funny. Adam is my friend and there is a good chemistry between us.
4- Have you ever met anyone like Samah in real life?
Some of my colleagues at university were similar to Samah because they had lived abroad. Actually one of my friends living in the United States told me that she calls her mother “Mum” and her father “Dad,” so I decided that Samah would do the same, then I started to draw Samah’s character in my mind. She is a cool, uncomplicated and lovely girl but at the same time despite living abroad for years her mother was keen to raise her according to the Egyptian culture, customs and traditions so she knows what is right and wrong from the Egyptian point of view.
5-What obstacles did you face while shooting?
The cold weather, because most of the series’ scenes were shot in the open air, in the streets and on the Nile corniche. The weather was extremely cold to the extent that I got flu for like five times and the same with the rest of the cast. The second challenge was the language. Samah needed to speak
Arabic with an English accent, so I had to fully concentrate
to keep it up. That’s why I used to speak more with Adam El
Sharkawy, because he naturally speaks Arabic with an English accent.
6-How do you see the competition in the Ramadan drama marathon?
There is fierce competition this Ramadan season, there
are a number of stars in the drama marathon. I love them
all and wish them all good luck, but Yousra has a large fan base and her fans wait for her series every Ramadan. When it comes to comedy this season, I think our series will hopefully achieve success.
7-Which series will you be keen to follow?
I will watch Donia Samir Ghanem’s Gat Salima because I’ll be appearing as a guest of honor. I’ll also follow Menna Shalaby’s “Tagheer Gaw” and Mona Zaki’s Tahet El Wesaya.
8-How do you choose your roles?
My first criteria is who the director is, the quality of the
script and the nature of my role. I ask myself whether this
role will add to me or not, and to what extent this role is
important in the project.
9-Which director do you want to work with?
I want to work with Marwan Hamed and to work again
with Amr Salah.
10- What role would you like to play?
I studied special effects make-up as a theater major at
AUC and I’d like to play an addict and do my own profes-
sional make-up. If I were to choose a historical part, I’d want to play the role of Cleopatra and Nefertiti because they were
strong and influential queens and I love portraying strong,
difficult and complicated characters.
11-What are your Ramadan rituals?Outside of Ramadan,
what are your hobbies?
If I don’t have work I prefer to wake up early to be able
to pray the five daily prayers on time, sometimes I help my
mother in preparing food for iftar, read Quran. I enjoy gatherings with family and friends and watching Ramadan series. As for my hobbies I love dancing; whether belly dancing, contemporary, Afro and hip-hop.
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