Sayed Badreya

Sayed Badreya is an Egyptian-born actor and filmmaker who grew up in Port Said and studied film at New York University before moving to Hollywood. His earliest industry jobs included assisting Anthony Perkins and working with James Cameron on True Lies. Wanting to tell Arabic-American stories, he founded Zoom In Focus, through which he directed and produced Saving Egyptian Film Classics and The Interrogation, the latter winning Best Creative Short Film at the New York International Film Festival. He produced and acted in Hesham Issawi's short T for Terrorist, honored at the Boston and San Francisco world film festivals. In 2007 he co-wrote and led American East, and in 2008 he broke through as the arms dealer Abu Bakaar in Iron Man and as a Palestinian cab driver in You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Later roles included The Dictator (2012) and Just Like a Woman (2012).