If you’re a history lover like myself, you know the second The Crown was released, it was immediately a must-watch. We have been dying to know how are they going to play out the whole Prince Charles and Princess Diana not-so-love-story. So, it was no surprise when the latest season of The Crown introduced Dodi Alfayed, Princess Diana’s last beau before her tragic accident.
Let’s give you a quick Alfayed 101. Mohammed Alfayed, Dodi’s father, gained immense wealth after partnering up with Saudi entrepreneur and billionaire, Adnan Khashoggi, and he then also married his sister. (But let’s not get into that.)
So when the talented Ahmed Ghozzi appeared on our screens in The Crown as Mohammed’s future business partner and brother-in-law alongside Amir El Masry and Chayma Abdelkarimi, we were smitten. You know us, we just had to learn more about Egypt’s rising star.
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Scroll down to Ahmed Ghozzi to learn more about him….
Cosmo Middle East: How did you react when you first heard the news about getting the role?
Ahmed Ghozzi: I couldn’t believe it. I was very shocked, and honestly, I was a bit scared that some issues would come up and it wouldn’t work out, but it did work out in the end.
Cosmo Middle East: How has your life changed after starring in The Crown?
Ahmed Ghozzi: I think after watching the episode, I was satisfied with everything that happened in it. It gave me confidence, and I feel like it opened a new door for me to be able to work abroad because this is something that I’ve been wanting to do.Now there is a possibility that people have seen my work internationally. And I am just looking forward to nourishing this opportunity.
Via @ahmedghozzi on Instagram
Cosmo Middle East: What was your first dream?
Ahmed Ghozzi: No, it’s been my dream since I was 8 or 10. But my family was a bit against it because the job itself has a lot of uncertainty. Just actually pursuing this and going to university to study acting was quite frustrating for them. That’s why I went to Leeds and studied business first before realizing I wanted to go back to the route that I wanted to take initially.
C: How do you think you related to your character in The Crown?
AG: Adnan was a very complex guy, very intelligent, smart and he knew exactly what you wanted to do. He built an empire. It was a bit scary for me. I had to embody the real character before. Adnan has a long story behind his sucess. When he was only 19, he managed to have his own company. He was very business oriented. I was never like that, so that was different for me. I had to read a lot about him. He was very passionate about what he wanted to do and that’s what makes us similar. I’m very passionate about what I want to do. He is focused and he knows that he will get there eventually, no matter the struggles he faces. This is really similar to what I’m experiencing at the moment. You know, I don’t know how I’m gonna get there but so I’m working towards it. This is how I related to Adnan. His passion, his energy, and his drive to just be a great businessman.
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C: What was your favorite celebrity encounter?
AG: I love Kareem AbdulAziz. I love him so much and I actually met him when I was filming The Choice in Egypt. I was very happy because I got to meet one of the people that I looked up to. Just talking to him made me think for sure to keep going. When I was filming The Crown, I also met with Alex Jennings, I met with Khalid Abdullah as well. We went for dinner together and just casually talking. It was huge for me because I felt like I could relate to those people. That gave me this sense of Oh, okay. We’re doing something together. And let’s do something great.
C: Tell us a bit more about your acting journey and sort of how you got here.
AG: Well see, I started acting during university. I started attending some workshops in 2018. I think I attended a workshop for like six months. I was eager to start working, and I got this job as an extra for a Netflix show called Safe back in 2018. That was my first ever acting job, and it was a very interesting insightful experience. Right after that, I realized I wanted to take this professionally, so what would I need to do to get there? I sat with myself researching, to understand how to just get into the market in Europe because I wasn’t in Egypt at the time. I managed to book this role in a movie called ‘Walk Out One‘ which screened in London in October 2020. Right after it screened, I think I went back to Egypt because of COVID and I had to create a portfolio of my work. Alhamdulillah when people saw my work they gave me this opportunity and it started from auditions, workshops, classes, developing myself, working on myself trying a lot of things. It was a hectic journey, but I loved it.
C: Last question, any advice you would give to other aspiring actors?
AG: My piece of advice that I would give to anyone is to keep working on yourself and never stop. Always have faith that God will send you the right thing at the right time whatever the right time means or whenever the right time comes. Just keep working on yourself and never stop.
Watch The Crown on Netflix.