Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / Mena Massoud Went From Aladdin to the Book of Daniel

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Mena Massoud Went From Aladdin to the Book of Daniel · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Mina, thanks for joining me. Hey, Michael.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, man.
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  Speaker 1: Mina Massoud, actor who leaped on the scene back in
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  Speaker 1: 2019 with the movie Aladdin and has had roles in
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  Speaker 1: other prominent films as well, including Jack Ryan and the rom-com.
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  Speaker 2: The Royal Treatment, I should say, TV series as well.
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  Speaker 1: And you are, of course, the lead now in Daniel
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  Speaker 1: and the Fiery Furnace, which follows the biblical story of
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  Speaker 1: Daniel and his courageous actions under King Nebuchadnezzar. Mina, of
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  Speaker 1: all the roles you've played, What drew you to Daniel
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  Speaker 1: and what is it about his story and his faith
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  Speaker 1: that made you want to be part of this movie?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I've been looking forward to doing a, you know,
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  Speaker 3: bringing a biblical story to life for a long time.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I grew up doing church plays and Stations
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  Speaker 3: of the Cross in elementary school and, you know, the
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  Speaker 3: church being a big part of my life as a
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  Speaker 3: Coptic Christian. And I never really thought, honestly, that we'd
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  Speaker 3: get to a point where biblical stories were being told
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  Speaker 3: on this level. on this scale. And so to see
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  Speaker 3: it being done now is incredible. You know, it's, I
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  Speaker 3: feel very blessed and grateful that we're having this moment
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  Speaker 3: of portraying these incredible biblical stories the way that we are.
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  Speaker 3: And so really that was the number one thing that
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  Speaker 3: drew me to it. I'd been circling a few different
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  Speaker 3: biblical projects before this one, and this one is the
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  Speaker 3: one that God kind of put in my path and
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  Speaker 3: we end up making. So I feel very blessed to
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  Speaker 3: have been a part of it.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think the lessons are in this film
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  Speaker 1: for today's society, for people of faith? Because one thing
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  Speaker 1: that really encouraged me in the movie is just how
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  Speaker 1: Daniel didn't bow down, like literally and figuratively.
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  Speaker 2: He stood up for what he believed.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, staying steadfast in your faith is certainly a theme.
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  Speaker 3: And also deciding what you're going to hold to the
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  Speaker 3: highest reverence and highest regard. I think nowadays that's a
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  Speaker 3: question that I think a lot of young people especially
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  Speaker 3: face every day with social media and the world being
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  Speaker 3: so connected. Then you have to ask yourself, like, why
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  Speaker 3: and who do you hold to the highest regard? There's
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  Speaker 3: so much hype now with looking up to athletes and
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  Speaker 3: celebrities and political figures and, you know, all these different
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  Speaker 3: kinds of people. And you have to ask, well, who
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  Speaker 3: is the most important person that I should be holding
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  Speaker 3: at the highest regard, right? And I think that question
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  Speaker 3: is different for everybody, but it's an important question to
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  Speaker 3: ask yourself because we can lose sight of that. As Christians,
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  Speaker 3: as non-Christians, we can all lose sight of that. And
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  Speaker 3: I think it's something that's important to remind ourselves of.
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  Speaker 2: Amen to that.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to ask you about your background. I've
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  Speaker 1: read your biography. I'm having trouble speaking here. You said
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  Speaker 1: that your parents moved, I think, from Egypt to Canada
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  Speaker 1: when you were about three and a half. They were
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  Speaker 1: Catholic Christians as well, of course, and they felt things
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  Speaker 1: were becoming a little too dangerous, I believe. Tell me
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  Speaker 1: about that. And perhaps, did that give you an insight
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  Speaker 1: into Daniel's story?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, as an immigrant, I think any immigrant can
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  Speaker 3: relate to this idea of leaving what you know and
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  Speaker 3: leaving your home that you love so much and going
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  Speaker 3: to a new place.
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  Speaker 2: And then how do you adjust to that new place?
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  Speaker 3: And how do you stay steadfast in not only what
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  Speaker 3: you believe in, but your traditions and your culture? And
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  Speaker 3: that was certainly something that my parents, I think, did
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  Speaker 3: a really good job of. They spoke Arabic to us
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  Speaker 3: at home. My mom cooked Egyptian food every night. And
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  Speaker 3: so staying true to where I come from and what
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  Speaker 3: I believe in was really helped and guided by my parents.
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  Speaker 3: But it's something that created an incredible foundation for myself.
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  Speaker 3: And my friends who I grew up with in the
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  Speaker 3: Coptic church still remain as some of my best friends.
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  Speaker 3: And so this idea... of Daniel and his family being
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  Speaker 3: stripped away from Judah and going to Babylon and being tested,
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  Speaker 3: their faith being tested, is something that I think any
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  Speaker 3: immigrant can relate to, but I certainly did.
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  Speaker 1: I think Egypt is only 10% Coptic Christian, if I
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  Speaker 1: understand the religious stats there.
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  Speaker 2: Do you remember anything about that time?
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  Speaker 1: And secondly, when your folks moved to Canada, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: is there a Coptic community there?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, you know, I've been back to Egypt many times.
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  Speaker 3: I work there now. And I will say Egypt is
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  Speaker 3: an incredible place that doesn't, you know, that doesn't really
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  Speaker 3: divide by religion, you know. And even my parents, when
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  Speaker 3: they were in their 30s in Egypt, they really felt
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  Speaker 3: like whether their friends were Muslim or Christian, that there
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  Speaker 3: was really no difference between them. I think, obviously, any
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  Speaker 3: extremism of any form is dangerous, and that exists in
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  Speaker 3: every faith. But I think, overall, Egypt is a place,
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  Speaker 3: is a very united place. And in Canada, yeah, there's
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  Speaker 3: a huge Coptic community. I believe that the Coptic community
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  Speaker 3: in Ontario, the province of Ontario, might be the largest
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  Speaker 3: in all of Canada.
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  Speaker 2: And so.
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  Speaker 3: I grew up in a very tight-knit Coptic community that was,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it was beautiful. You know, I spent a
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  Speaker 3: lot of time in church and not just on Sundays
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  Speaker 3: for the liturgy, but youth group and Bible study and
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  Speaker 3: really think more than anything, it was just a place
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  Speaker 3: where I grew some of my best and strongest friendships.
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  Speaker 2: It's my understanding.
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  Speaker 1: I don't think Egypt is as dangerous as some of
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  Speaker 1: the other countries for Christians in the Middle East, but
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  Speaker 1: I do want to ask you that question. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know if there's anything unique in the region you guys
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  Speaker 1: were living. You have a fascinating background. You attended the
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  Speaker 1: University of Toronto for neuroscience before transferring to Ryerson University's
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  Speaker 1: theater program.
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  Speaker 2: Tell us about that.
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  Speaker 1: Did you grow up wanting to be in neuroscience? And
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  Speaker 1: what led you to make a decision and to change
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  Speaker 1: your career path?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I grew up wanting to be an actor.
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  Speaker 3: That's always what I wanted to do. But I was
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  Speaker 3: the youngest of three to an immigrant family. Both my
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  Speaker 3: sisters are pharmacists. So my parents naturally wanted me to
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  Speaker 3: be a doctor. And, you know, that's kind of what
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  Speaker 3: I convinced myself I wanted to do for a bit
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  Speaker 3: until I kind of decided that it wasn't and that
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  Speaker 3: I wanted to pursue my, you know, my true passion
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  Speaker 3: of acting.
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  Speaker 2: And so in my first year.
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  Speaker 3: Of neuroscience, which was really a pre-med major that I
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  Speaker 3: was going to do and then apply to medical school.
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  Speaker 3: In my first year, I decided to take a leap
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  Speaker 3: of faith and audition for theater school and see if
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  Speaker 3: I get in. They only took 30 people for the
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  Speaker 3: program each year. And I got in and decided that
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  Speaker 3: I would finally pursue my passion.
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  Speaker 2: And Aladdin, of course, was where most of us first
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  Speaker 2: heard of your name. How did you land that role?
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  Speaker 2: And Were you shocked when they called you and told
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  Speaker 2: you you're the one?
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  Speaker 3: I was shocked when it started moving in the right direction,
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  Speaker 3: to be honest. I had initially auditioned and for six months,
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  Speaker 3: I never heard anything back. And so I kind of
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  Speaker 3: forgot about it as every actor is trained to do
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  Speaker 3: because of the utter rejection that we face every day.
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  Speaker 3: And so when they called me after six months to
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  Speaker 3: say that they wanted to see me again, that's really
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  Speaker 3: when the real surprise was. But For me, it was
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  Speaker 3: so early on of moving to LA and really starting
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  Speaker 3: my professional career in the States that, for me, the
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  Speaker 3: victory was just flying to London and getting to meet
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  Speaker 3: Guy Ritchie and screen test with all of them. I
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  Speaker 3: really didn't care if I booked a role after that point,
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  Speaker 3: to be honest with you. Though, obviously, I'm grateful that
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  Speaker 3: I did and feel very blessed.
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  Speaker 1: Did you have a background, though, in singing? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: that's a big part of this, a big part of Aladdin.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, was that something that you grew up doing
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  Speaker 1: as well?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we had a fantastic program in theater school. It
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  Speaker 3: was a conservatory-style program. So it was 13, 14-hour days
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  Speaker 3: every day, six days a week. When I was in
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  Speaker 3: theater school for four years, put a lot of hours
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  Speaker 3: into everything. So singing was a part of it. Dancing
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  Speaker 3: was a part of it. And then, of course, the classics,
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  Speaker 3: commedia dell'arte, Shakespeare, mask work. you know, the classics. So
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  Speaker 3: we did a bit of everything in theater school. And
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  Speaker 3: I think that really helped prepare me for, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that a mega, a mega job like Aladdin was.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know what types of movies and products you
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  Speaker 1: want to be involved in in the future? And I
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  Speaker 1: asked that because you've been involved in so many different types.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, is there something that you want to really
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  Speaker 1: pursue in the future or are you kind of open
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  Speaker 1: to anything?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I feel like I'm still young in my
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  Speaker 3: career and I'm open to anything. You know, I've been
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  Speaker 3: very lucky to do, you know, the big blockbuster like Aladdin.
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  Speaker 3: The indie film world, you know, has been my world
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  Speaker 3: for really the last few years. The rom-coms with the
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  Speaker 3: Royal Treatment and films like Hotel for the Holidays and
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  Speaker 3: a film that I did last year that I really
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  Speaker 3: enjoyed working on was Julia Stiles' directorial debut, Wish You
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  Speaker 3: Were Here. That was a really kind of dramatic, sad
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  Speaker 3: film that I really enjoyed working sinking my teeth into.
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  Speaker 3: So I think I'm kind of open to anything.
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  Speaker 2: I haven't done.
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  Speaker 3: Comedy in a while now, so maybe comedy would be
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  Speaker 3: nice as a change. But I also love the dramatic
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  Speaker 3: pieces and the genre of drama.
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  Speaker 2: So I.
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  Speaker 3: Feel very lucky to have done a bit of everything
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  Speaker 3: so far in my career.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've enjoyed the couple of rom-coms you did. Those
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  Speaker 1: are kind of family-focused rom-coms. I think one of them
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  Speaker 1: might have been on Netflix. The other one may be
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  Speaker 1: an Amazon platform.
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  Speaker 2: I forget.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, those were fun. Final question for you, Amina.
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  Speaker 1: My 14-year-old daughter, Maggie, is a big fan of the
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  Speaker 1: movie Aladdin. She's watched it at least 20 times. She
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  Speaker 1: has a question for you, and I'm going to ask
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  Speaker 1: it for her. If the genie was real... What would
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  Speaker 1: you wish for in real life right now?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, man, a long and healthy and prosperous career and life.
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  Speaker 3: I think, you know, that's I think the one thing
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  Speaker 3: that I think about now as I get older is,
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  Speaker 3: you know, people say if you're not the one wish
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  Speaker 3: you have when you're not healthy is to be healthy.
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  Speaker 3: And when you're healthy, you have a multitude of wishes.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately, I think health is the number one thing
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  Speaker 3: that I would wish for, for me and my loved
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  Speaker 3: ones around me.
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  Speaker 2: Amen to that. Mina, thanks so much. Thank you.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks, Michael. If you liked today's episode, please subscribe and
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• 11:05
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  Speaker 2: See you next time.