Ashraf Abdel Baky

Ashraf Abdel Baky is an Egyptian actor, comedian, director, producer and philanthropist born in 1963. He was the youngest, having 5 older siblings, three brothers and two sisters. At 12 years old Ashraf started working with his father as a contractor, devoting his time during summer and winter breaks to helping in the workshop. He started acting at the age of 16 in high school taking part in over 80 plays, whether front or backstage. At 18, he opened up his own workshop specializing in Aluminum and different metals. Abdel Baky then went on to study at Ain Shams University graduating in the class of 86' with a Business Degree. During which he picked up independent studies at the Higher Institute for dramatic arts between 1985 - 1987. He kept his job as a contractor during this time, also opening up a Decor showcase and office with one of his older brothers. Abdel Baky only closed the workshops after his career as an actor took off. Abdel Baky started his professional career one year after graduation from university. Dr. Hany Motawea, who was one of his instructors as the Institute, was directing a play by the name of "Rosewood" (1986); Transliteration: Khashab El Ward; and sought Abdel Baky for the role of a policeman. With each day on stage his role became bigger and longer, with a little bit of improvisation, he stole the show. This was his big break as producers and directors frequented the play and, through which, recruited Abdel Baky for various other roles. In 1988 he worked on the set of his first film "Underwater Hell". Throughout the 90s, Film dominated Ashraf's Career. it is also the time where he won his first award for the film "Sayedati Anesati" in 1990, and went on to win 8 more awards throughout his career for films including "Leh Ya Banafseg"(1993) and "Romantica"(1996). He worked in films with the greats of Egyptian cinema such as in ''War in the Land of Egypt''(1991) with Omar Sharif Directed by Salah Abu Seif. He also starred alongside superstar Amr Diab in ''Ice Cream in Gleam''(1992). As well as securing a role with Adel Emam in "Terrorism and Kebab" (1992). His first lead role came in 1992 in the film ''Ay Ay'', as well as a lead in a series with ''And Still the Nile Runs'' as the character of 'Al Sahy'. In this span of 10 years, Abdel Baky partook in 42 films out of the current total of 63. In the 2000's Abdel Baky Produced his first film, ''Rasha Gareea''(2001), which he also starred in; it was directed by Saeed Hamed, they later became close friends. In fact, Abdel Baky worked with Hamed on multiple other films including ''Saheb Sahbbo''(2002) with Mohamed Henedi, and ''Alla Ganb Yasta''(2008) with Asser Yassin and Arwa Gouda. During this time He worked on numerous successful series that are to an extent considered classics including ''Tales of a Modern Husband''(2003) and various voice roles in animated series. In 2009 he played the role of the legendary Ismail Yassine, who was one of Egypt's greatest comedians and actors in the 50s and 60s, in his biopic titled ''Abu Dahka Genan''(2009). Abdel Baky shows pride in portraying this role mainly due to him growing up with Yassine's films and aspiring to follow in his footsteps. He also appreciated how the series encompassed the whole life of Ismail Yassine, the good and bad. Man and six women (2006-2016); Transliteration: Ragel we Set Settat; is a sitcom following the life of Adel, AKA. "Doola", played by Abdel Baky, and his household which consists of six women; His wife, daughter, mother, sister, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. The show was directed by Assad Fouladdkar. This is the first Egyptian sitcom whose's story is original and specific to the country, as opposed to it being inspired or taken from western television. As this was a new trial, it was a gamble as whether it would succeed or not, mainly due to the creators being unsure as to the nature of the viewer's perceptions, because Abdel Baky likes experimenting with new ideas, he went all in. The show became successful to the point that it went on for 10 seasons, it also reached a point of being deemed a classic, known within almost every household across the country. The main Reason Abdel Baky got into hosting talk shows is his enjoyment of the idea of freely discussing memories and thoughts with fellow actors and directors. In fact most of his episodes are built atop improvisation, as they lack the presence of preset questions or topics. His first show which spread in popularity was called "Darak"(2008) meaning "Your house", mainly due to the set taking shape of the interior of a house, almost as if Abdel Baky was inviting the guests into his place. A total of 80 episodes were filmed and spread over 3 seasons where there would be a variety of actions including simply talking and discussing current affairs, cooking, or taking up activities within the show. Another limited series that Abdel Baky enjoyed creating is "Origin of the Word"(2003); Transliteration: Asl El Kelma; which consisted of him investigating the origin of specific words, getting excited at the fact that most of the words used in the Egyptian vernacular are originally pharaonic. His most recent Talk show is "Ashraf's Cafe"(2018); Transliteration: Ahwet Ashraf; which not only consists of talking and interviewing famous people, but also explores new talent and startup companies in an attempt to support the youth in starting small projects and working. Projects such as food carts and trucks in the street, or possibly people with innovative ideas that aim to improve the country. In more recent years Abdel Baky aimed to re-introduce theater culture to the country, there was a time where there would be multiple plays working live in each city, and by the late 2000's it was down to none. Along with this goal, Abdel Baky wanted to scout new talent and bring out a new generation of actors, and so in 2013 he came up with "Teatro Masr" with a cast of 17 new faces. He scouted the new actors himself going to small theaters, or university groups hand picking this number to work with him onstage. The idea of the show is that there are two new plays presented every two weeks, and so the idea of ongoing entertainment is present as there could be returning audiences which would watch two completely new plays every time. Two years later the Title was switched to ''Masrah Masr'' due to a switch in Production Companies as Abdel Baky's own company Workshop picked it up. The episodes are directed for television by Saeed Hamed, and the theater works on the calendar of television series, with one season annually being performed live first, then broadcast on television after. Through the years Abdel Baky has been fading himself out of the plays, taking on smaller roles in order to push the other actors into the spotlight, he did so successfully to the point that the audience knows the rest of the actors well enough to go with the sole purpose of seeing one of the young actors perform. As of 2019 Ashraf Abdel Baky and his group have created over 120 plays, and are still continuing to do so. He also founded and directs ''Masrah El Saudia'', a Version of Masrah Masr that takes place in Saudi Arabia. His work with the theater there was essential to the country as this theater represented the first time that Men and Women were allowed to sit side by side during a show in the country. The show takes place in Jedda.