Sayed Badreya

Sayed Badreya

Born: May 1, 1957
in Port Said, Egypt
Egyptian-born film-maker and actor Sayed Badreya realized a childhood dream by winning roles in major Hollywood films such as The Insider, Three Kings, and Independence Day. Growing up in poverty in Port Said, Sayed Badreya's dreams of movie stardom looked as bleak as the prospect of peace in the Middle East. From the Six Day War in '67 through the Yom Kippur War in '73, his only escape from the world he knew was the movie theater, where films transported him to a magical land. But it was here that he determined he was destined to be a part of that magic. After attending New York University film school, and then moving to Hollywood, Sayed first worked in the film industry as an assistant to actor/director Anthony Perkins, and then with director James Cameron on True Lies. His mission - to make movies that told the Arabic- American story, since it had yet to be told - led to the creation of his own production company, Zoom In Focus. Under this banner, he directed and produced the documentary, Saving Egyptian Film Classics as well as The Interrogation, which won Best Creative Short Film at New York International Film Festival. He also produced and starred in Hesham Issawi's short, T for Terrorist, which was awarded Best Short Film at the Boston International Film Festival and the San Francisco World Film Festival. In 2007, he played his first leading role in the English language motion picture American East, a film that he also co-wrote. 2008 was Sayed Badreya's breakout year. He captivated audiences as Abu Bakaar, the villainous arms dealer who kidnaps Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the summer's blockbuster Iron Man. Also that year, Sayed played the comedic Palestinian cab driver opposite Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan. This summer, Sayed can be seen in Paramount Pictures' feature film El traspatio aka Backyard, directed by Oscar-nominated Carlos Carrera in which he plays a serial killer opposite Ana de la Reguera. Sayed can also be seen this summer in Movie 43, where he plays opposite Halle Berry. Additional forthcoming films include The Three Stooges, his fifth film with the Farrelly brothers; The Dictator, playing Sascha Baron Cohen's father as the original Dictator, and Just Like a Woman, with Oscar nominated director Rachid Bouchareb. Also, Sayed is going to a new frontier in the new video game Uncharted 3, playing Ramses the Great Pirate Captain. Most recently he completed his second leading role in the New York independent feature, Cargo, about human traffickers, directed by Yan Vizinberg. And he just finished co-starring opposite Oscar-nominated actress Melissa Leo in film The Space Between, directed by Travis Fine. Sayed has also worked as an actor, Arabic dialect coach, and Islamic technical advisor on Path to 9/11, a $40 million mini-series about the events leading up to 9/11 produced by ABC/Touchstone. Sayed's efforts to bring attention to Arab-Americans in the motion picture industry have received much coverage over the years on radio, television, and in major publications around the world, such as The New York Times, GQ, NPR, ABC's "Politically Incorrect" with Bill Maher, BBC's "Panorama," CNN, "Fox Report with Shepard Smith", The Hollywood Reporter and Egypt Today.

Movies for Sayed Badreya...

Jellyfish and Lobster
Title: Jellyfish and Lobster
Character: Mido
Released: February 27, 2023
Type: Movie
Brought together serendipitously in a moment of mischief, two elderly care home residents form an unlikely relationship when they make an enchanted discovery.
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Vanguard
Title: Vanguard
Character: Abati
Released: September 30, 2020
Type: Movie
Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world's deadliest mercenary organization.
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Witness to a Rape
Title: Witness to a Rape
Character: himself
Released: July 10, 2020
Type: Movie
The full story of the crime of losing Egyptian cinema heritage Neglected by the Minister of Culture (Farouk Hosni). Sold by (Asaad Yunus). The Saudi Prince bought it (Al-Walid Bin Talal)
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I Am That Man
Title: I Am That Man
Character: Harry
Released: September 1, 2019
Type: Movie
Struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his marriage and his reintegration into civilian life, former Navy SEAL John Beckett contemplates returning to what he knows best, war. When a close friend is brutally murdered in a racially motivated attack, Beckett calls upon his specialized military skills to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Has he found a new sense of purpose, or will this be his last mission?
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Title: Apple & Onion
Character: Falafel (voice)
Released: February 23, 2018
Type: TV
In a world of talking food, best mates Apple and Onion fumble through city life, tackling ordinary problems by extraordinary means.
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Boiling Pot
Title: Boiling Pot
Character: Anwar Seif
Released: September 29, 2015
Type: Movie
On a college campus in modern America, ideas that have long been neglected as "issues of the past" emerge as racial tensions and frictions grow between different student groups.
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Just Like a Woman
Title: Just Like a Woman
Character: Tarek
Released: March 7, 2013
Type: Movie
Two women get on the highway heading to Santa Fe. Marilyn dreams of winning a contest held by a famous belly dancing company, while her friend, Mona, has a darker secret.
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Movie 43
Title: Movie 43
Character: Large Man (segment "Truth or Dare")
Released: January 24, 2013
Type: Movie
Fifteen directors and an all-star cast created this twisted comedy that follows three teens on the hunt for the world's most banned film.
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The Dictator
Title: The Dictator
Character: Omar
Released: May 15, 2012
Type: Movie
The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
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The Three Stooges
Title: The Three Stooges
Character: Orderly
Released: April 13, 2012
Type: Movie
While trying to save their childhood orphanage, Moe, Larry and Curly inadvertently stumble into a murder plot and wind up starring in a reality TV show.
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This Narrow Place
Title: This Narrow Place
Character: Aziz
Released: October 20, 2011
Type: Movie
A Palestinian sneaks into the U.S. to reconnect with his sister, and he plans to have a company, which built a bomb that killed his brother in Gaza, make a part for a rocket that he will launch into Israel.
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Cargo
Title: Cargo
Character: Sayed
Released: October 17, 2011
Type: Movie
A young Russian woman, smuggled into America by human traffickers, and a notorious Egyptian transporter hired to drive her from the Mexican border to New York City, form an unlikely bond that transforms them and threatens to derail the traffickers' plans.
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Family Prayers
Title: Family Prayers
Character: Hussein
Released: June 1, 2010
Type: Movie
When a young Egyptian married couple runs into serious issues the family steps in.
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Backyard
Title: Backyard
Character: El Sultán
Released: February 20, 2009
Type: Movie
An astonishing fictional account of the unending series of murders of young women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which began in 1996. Most of the victims are low-paid laborers who have been drawn to the town by the possibility of work at American-owned factories. In the film Mexican police officer Blanca Bravo is sent to Cuidad Juarez to investigate and comes to learn realities of these women's lives, as well as the truth about a police force and local power structure embodied by entrepreneur Mickey Santos that has ceased to care.
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AmericanEast
Title: AmericanEast
Character: Mustafa Marzouke
Released: November 14, 2008
Type: Movie
Summer in L.A., it's hot. Homeland Security has set the threat level at red; they're searching for several Arabs alleged to be terrorists. Mustafa, an Egyptian immigrant who runs a falafel shop, comes to the FBI's attention; they investigate him. He has other problems: his young teen son no longer wants to be a Muslim; his sister, a nurse, objects to Mustafa arranging her marriage to a cousin from Egypt. She has a non-Arab suitor of her own. Omar, an employee of Mustafa, is a struggling actor who doesn't want to play only terrorists. Mustafa hopes to open a real restaurant and has a potential partner in Sam, a Jew, whose family objects. What is the price of the American dream?
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You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Character: Hamdi
Released: June 5, 2008
Type: Movie
An Israeli counterterrorism soldier with a secretly fabulous ambition to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Zohan's desire runs so deep that he'll do anything -- including faking his own death and going head-to-head with an Arab cab driver -- to make his dreams come true.
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Iron Man
Title: Iron Man
Character: Abu Bakaar
Released: April 30, 2008
Type: Movie
After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.
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Title: The Unit
Character: Afghan Commander
Released: March 7, 2006
Type: TV
A covert team of special forces operatives risk their lives on undercover missions around the globe, while their wives maintain the homefront, protecting their husbands' secrets.
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Title: Numb3rs
Released: January 23, 2005
Type: TV
Inspired by actual cases and experiences, Numb3rs depicts the confluence of police work and mathematics in solving crime as an FBI agent recruits his mathematical genius brother to help solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles from a very different perspective.
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Stuck on You
Title: Stuck on You
Character: Assisting Surgeon
Released: December 10, 2003
Type: Movie
In Martha's Vineyard, Mass., conjoined twins Walt and Bob Tenor make the best of their handicap by being the fastest grill cooks in town. While outgoing Walt hopes to one day become a famous actor, shy Bob prefers to stay out of the spotlight. When a fading Hollywood actress, Cher, decides to get her show "Honey and the Beaze" cancelled, she hires Walt -- and his brotherly appendage -- as her costars. But their addition surprisingly achieves the opposite.
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Shallow Hal
Title: Shallow Hal
Character: Doctor Sayed
Released: November 1, 2001
Type: Movie
After taking his dying father's advice, Hal dates only the embodiments of female physical perfection. But that all changes after Hal has an unexpected run-in with self-help guru Tony Robbins. Intrigued by Hal's shallowness, Robbins hypnotizes him into seeing the beauty that exists even in the least physically appealing women. Hal soon falls for Rosemary, but he doesn't realize that his gorgeous girlfriend is actually a 300-pound-not-so-hottie.
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The Princess & the Marine
Title: The Princess & the Marine
Character: Chauffeur
Released: February 18, 2001
Type: Movie
Based on a true story, American Marine Jason Johnson (Goselaar) is sent on assignment to the Emirate of Bahrain. While there, he meets and falls in love with a spirited, lovely young woman, Meriam (Nichols), without realizing she is really a member of the Bahraini Royal Family. Meriam, who does not wish to consent to an arranged marriage, knows her love affair with Jason is dangerous, as he is a Mormon Christian and she a Muslim. Her parents would never consent to their match, and so Meriam and Jason race against time to escape Bahrain and make it to the United States, where they can marry. If Meriam is sent back, however, her life may be in jeopardy.
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The Insider
Title: The Insider
Character: Hezbollah Head Gunman
Released: October 28, 1999
Type: Movie
A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a 60 Minutes exposé on Big Tobacco.
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Three Kings
Title: Three Kings
Character: Iraqi Tank Major
Released: September 27, 1999
Type: Movie
A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.
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Title: The Practice
Released: March 4, 1997
Type: TV
A provocative legal drama focused on young associates at a bare-bones Boston firm and their scrappy boss, Bobby Donnell. The show's forte is its storylines about “people who walk a moral tightrope.”
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Kingpin
Title: Kingpin
Character: Fatima
Released: July 4, 1996
Type: Movie
After bowler Roy Munson swindles the wrong crowd and is left with a hook for a hand, he settles into impoverished obscurity. That is, until he uncovers the next big thing: an Amish kid named Ishmael. So, the corrupt and the hopelessly naive hit the circuit intent on settling an old score with Big Ern.
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Independence Day
Title: Independence Day
Character: Arab Pilot
Released: June 25, 1996
Type: Movie
On July 2, a giant alien mothership enters orbit around Earth and deploys several dozen saucer-shaped 'destroyer' spacecraft that quickly lay waste to major cities around the planet. On July 3, the United States conducts a coordinated counterattack that fails. On July 4, a plan is devised to gain access to the interior of the alien mothership in space, in order to plant a nuclear missile.
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Mirage
Title: Mirage
Character: Sayed
Released: November 21, 1995
Type: Movie
Matteo Juarez is a retired detective hired by a local businessman to follow his wife Jennifer. She has a split personality and seems to be putting herself in danger without knowing it.
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Stargate
Title: Stargate
Character: Arabic Interpreter
Released: October 28, 1994
Type: Movie
An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.
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True Lies
Title: True Lies
Character: Arab Terrorist (uncredited)
Released: July 15, 1994
Type: Movie
A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
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Title: Seinfeld
Character: Foreign Man
Released: July 5, 1989
Type: TV
A stand-up comedian and his three offbeat friends weather the pitfalls and payoffs of life in New York City in the '90s. It's a show about nothing.
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Hotshot
Title: Hotshot
Character: Mohamed
Released: January 23, 1987
Type: Movie
The story of an American soccer player trying to make it big who turns to Pele, the greatest soccer player of all time, for guidance.
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perforated calabash
Title: perforated calabash
Character: himself
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
documentary about egyptian cinema
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Dandelion Season
Title: Dandelion Season
Character: Omar
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Defiant young director Hanna seems to be forced into an arranged marriage in America. Arranging anything for this talented, head-strong woman was their first mistake.