It was sad to hear that Egyptian superstar Khaled El Nabawy has just left the hospital after recovering from a sudden heart attack that happened when he was at the gym. This upsetting news got us to think about how El Nabawy is a source of pride for all of us. Not only because he’s a great actor, but because he’s also one of the few Egyptians who made it to Hollywood.

The first step in Hollywood for El Nabawy was back in 2005 when the director Ridley Scott chose him for a role in Kingdom of Heaven. He embodied Mullah, the first advisor to Salah El Din El Ayubi.

In 2010, El Nabawy proudly made it to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, with the movie Fair Game, in which he played Hamed, an Iraqi nuclear scientist. The movie revolves around a former ambassador who wrote an article for the New York Times, in which he talked about the manipulation of the Bush administration. The scandalous report revealed manipulated information obtained from military intelligence regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify the war. Consequently, the attacked administration decided to take revenge.

Complementing his global success, El Nabawy landed his first-ever lead role in an international film, The Citizen. The 2013 movie, directed by Sam Kadi, follows an Arab citizen who arrives in the United States the day before the September 11 bombings. The Citizen was nominated to win The Best Feature Film in The Hollywood Film Awards, and got a rating of 7 out of 10 on IMDb.

In Mamalek El Nar, El Nabawy’s latest series, he embodies historical leader Tuman Bay, and the series achieved massive success both inside and outside of Egypt.

We hope he gets well very soon!