Ramy Youssef is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director known for his role as Ramy Hassan on the hit Hulu comedy series “Ramy” (2019–present), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy and a Peabody Award in 2020. He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Born in 1991, in Queens, New York to immigrant parents from Egypt, he first made his acting debut on the Nick at Nite sitcom “See Dad Run” in which he starred in a main role. During the run of the show, Youssef shadowed the writers’ room, an experience Youssef would bring to his own show in 2019. His prominent rise to fame has come from his series, “Ramy”, loosely based on his life, starring Youssef as the main character that tells the story of a millennial Muslim who is a first-generation American, born to immigrant parents in the United States.
The hit show has been referenced as singlehandedly changing the well-entrenched Hollywood misperceptions surrounding both Arabs and Muslims.
In addition to breaking stereotypes, another powerful force that is driving the show, Youssef has stated, “A lot of stories that I’ve seen on screen have been about somebody trying to leave their culture and their faith behind. I wanted to make a story about somebody who wants to hold on to his culture and faith but is very torn by the times and keeps battling temptations,” he explains. On the episodes of the show that were filmed in Egypt, he mentioned, “…so many felt connected to what we depicted. I found out that a lot of kids in America, who come from different countries, feel the same way when they go back to their hometowns. The feeling is so universal…the storyline we did in Egypt also kind of made people fall in love with the country.”
After the debut of “Ramy”, Youssef signed an overall television production deal with A24, and has two shows in development, on Apple TV+ and Netflix.