Millennials have been highly anticipating Disney’s brand new remake of one of their favourite childhood movies, Aladdin. From the trailer to casting Will Smith as the Genie, we’ve been hung up on the production for a while now. More importantly, all eyes have been on Mena Massoud, the Egyptian Canadian face starring as Aladdin himself.

With the film being released in Egyptian cinemas on May 22nd, Massoud posted a video on Instagram today, addressing his people. “Ya ahl Masr, ahlan,” Massoud said in a broken accent, making our hearts melt and skip a beat.

The actor spoke about how excited he is for us, Egyptians, to watch the movie and that he’s so proud to be part of it. He also hopes we’d love it just as he did while filming it. And guess what, he ended the video saying “Tahya Masr” three times! If that doesn’t make him Egyptian enough, we don’t know what can?

Massoud, born in Egypt and raised in Ontario, Canada, is no new to the acting career. He’s mainly familiar for his previous roles; Jared Malik in the 2015 Canadian series Open Heart and Tarek Kassar in the Amazon prime series Jack Ryan.

In an interview with the HUDSUCKER, Mena said that Robin Williams was the one who inspired him to be an actor. “Robin in everything he did. He was an incredibly well-rounded actor but I grew up on his role in Mrs. Doubtfire. That role by itself is very well-rounded and he goes through an amazing journey in that movie. I think it’s very underrated.

Are you excited for Aladdin’s remake? Let us know!

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By Yara Tarek