Creativity and the craft of performing have always been about service first and foremost to me. It is the holding space, offering energy, creating curious stories, and allowing a process of self-reflection for the audience. This can be done through healing, revealing, and sometimes even confronting. However, this can't be done through a superficial lens, especially when the said lens becomes diluted by presumptions.
My journey into acting was a very unorthodox one and it felt a lot like jumping into the deep end. The great thing was that instead of flailing to survive, I was lucky enough to have mentors who swam calmly beside me. They showed me that there was beauty beyond fear.
I was initially an architecture school graduate, something I fell into instead of jumping in on purpose. Surrendering myself to the classic Middle Eastern migrant narrative. Finish school, excel in University, and get a prestigious job to survive. The difference for me was the concept of safety wasn't always going to be present, so I challenged that, and often. During university, I also played and toured with a punk band in an unconscious attempt to cradle both my adolescent fire and my dormant need to tell stories and find experiences that will test me. Let's just say in short, they did.
Thriving was never part of the equation. Later I understood why, as that was the pattern that my parent's generation had to fight to attain, to always be on guard. Surrendering wasn't an option, especially with the addition of my mother going through cancer at the time when we arrived in Aotearoa. Though her words of advice differed after she recovered, and are still repeated by her today to me and those she cares about. "Nothing in life matters but the love you're willing to cultivate". This later became one of my mantras and the essence of why I chose acting.
The concept of struggle is often the first to be framed when it comes to the stories of POCs and migrants, and this narrative indeed has its place, as our struggles are greatly diverse and carry great lessons. Though the innovation, the intimate, the mundane, and the soft are often forgotten. We are more than just our pain of transitioning, we are hundreds, sometimes thousands of years of history and experiences. At the moment this is one of my primary interests as a creative person; the intimacy of honesty, and our multifaceted histories. How we choose to create our own myths in this modern world and how we can integrate tales from our rich past. No matter how benign the story may seem. We often don't have the privilege of seeing these stories from POCs, especially migrants from the Middle East here, which can help us understand one another and find our places within the social gardens we choose to grow.
Without understanding each other or our complexities, audiences won't get to see qualities such as the wisdom of our matriarchs, the gorgeousness of our language, or our almost inherent ability to find humor in just about every situation that we face. They don't see Egypt and her culture as the giant melting pot of migrants that it is, similarly to Aotearoa. They only see the Hollywood orientalized sepia version of her, not as the mother of the world as we affectionately like to call her. I've always carved this clarity to see each others' stories not only for Egyptians but all Middle Eastern and North African folk. It saddened me that there haven't been enough beautiful tales that have been told through us, or for us and this is our chance to change that.
So if you happen to be on the fence diving in like I was, my advice to you is to leap. This time we have many mentors to guide you through the waters, and in time you'll become one yourself.
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About Ahmed:
Ahmed Youssef is an Egyptian actor and writer. After studying the Micheal Chekov technique extensively, he then graduated from Unitec and continues to find different avenues to stretch his range. Gaining roles in projects such as Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, and more recently in the upcoming TV show Miles From Nowhere. He was also in the stage adaptation of the book The Girl On A Train at The Court Theatre last year.
Living an eclectic life, he previously played and toured in a punk band, before dedicating himself to the craft. He's also a trained architect, visual artist, and speaks fluent Arabic. His diverse experiences and traveling during his youth have led him to be a highly versatile and adaptable actor.