Omar Sharif Jr. received early career advice from his famous grandfather, the legendary Hollywood actor Omar Sharif, who received Golden Globe-winning performances in 1962’s “Lawrence of Arabia” and 1965’s “Dr. Zhivago”: Acting Isn’t Enough.
“My grandfather always used to say that nothing is more boring than being an actor,” Sharif, 38, told TheWrap with a laugh. “Later in his life, he used to take roles literally to pay off gambling debt. It wasn’t for anything else. It was to cover costs at the racetrack.”
Despite his grandfather’s words, Omar Sharif Jr. became an actor — and he recently joined the cast of the long-running Israeli rom-com series “Beauty and the Baker.” But being an artist isn’t really enough for young Sharif, who has been an outspoken LGBTQ activist since he became famous as gay while living in Egypt in 2012. Arab Spring,
And now Sharif—who has Egyptian roots on his father’s side and Jewish Holocaust survivor on his mother’s side—has assumed the position of chief advancement officer. Holocaust Museum LA Continuing his acting career. In his new part-time role, he will lead the development and communications strategy for the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in America. Existing footprint in Pan Pacific Park near Grove Shopping Center.
The contents of the Holocaust Museum LA are primarily historical, yet Sharif said it reflects the creation of dangerous trends in the present day. “With hate crimes at historic levels in America, we are living in crazy times. We are really lagging behind,” he said. “When I saw that happening in Egypt after the Arab Spring, I thought, ‘It’s because it’s Egypt, isn’t it?’ Well, you look at what happened in America on January 6th, see the rise in hate crimes in America and you feel something else here.
Sharif’s commitment to LGBTQ activism as well as his philanthropy – he has been a major fundraiser for People Nearby Academy Museum of Motion PicturesAlso – reflects his family’s legacy of trying to break down political, social and cultural barriers.
Sharif said his famous grandfather realized that acting could convey a message. “He decided he was going to retire from acting, unless the roles really spoke to him or the issues or things he was passionate about,” Sharif said, which is why his He had a slight revival later in life, for which he was nominated. French Cesar Award [winning Best Actor in 2004 for his turn as a Muslim shopkeeper who befriends a Jewish youth in “Monsieur Ibrahim”] And for wonderful films that talk about tolerance between religious minorities and inter-religious relations.”
The message also came from her grandmother, the Egyptian actress Faten Hamama, who always played roles that spoke for the advancement of women in Egyptian society.
“they [both] Having said that always make sure you have a cause or something that you are passionate about to champion,” Sharif said. “And so I’ve always been embedded in who I am.”
The Canadian-born actor-activist has lived in Canada, Egypt and elsewhere, earning a BA from Queen’s University in Ontario and an MS from the London School of Economics. He came out as gay in 2012 during his stay in Egypt Arab Spring Rebellion, when LGBTQ individuals face legal challenges under stringent ethics provisions.
“Some say it was brave, some say it was stupid,” he said, then later added: “To be precise, I had several court cases to cancel [Egyptian] Citizenship in 2012 and 2014 just after I came out. We technically don’t know what is my position in the country. The risk of arrest to me is so clear, though – I think ‘inciting corruption’ is now an allegation.
Sharif details his journey in his recently published memoir, “A Tale of Two Omars: A Memoir of Family Revolution and Coming out during the Arab Spring”.
Like his grandfather and grandmother, Sharif said he was never able to separate his identity as an actor and activist. In “Beauty and the Baker”, the love story of a baker and an heiress, Sharif joined the show in the third season as a Palestinian-born gay Hollywood agent who is married to an Israeli travel agent.
“We also have a child through surrogacy, which was not allowed in Israel till now,” Sharif said. “It’s one of those stories that opens hearts and minds that I was compelled to do, by [show] Producer Assi Azar.”
Crossing boundaries in onscreen roles is also a family tradition. Sharif said that his grandfather was not always seen as an “Arab sheikh or king or terrorist”, but was working in a racist Hollywood that always saw him as “the other”.
“The other was the general. And so was my grandfather, who was Egyptian, playing a Russian poet, Cuban revolutionary, and Genghis Khan, the Mongolian emperor, who would not fly today,” Sharif said. “Just because my Dada was otherworldly and different and foreign, he felt he could fill any sort of category.”
Diversity is improving in Hollywood, Sharif said, citing Billy Eichner’s upcoming gay rom-com film “Bros” as an example. He has three TV shows in development STX Entertainment He hopes to further “honesty and empathy” between peoples and cultures. (He declined to discuss the title or plot.)
However, he does not believe that his work is done in Hollywood or as a global activist for a variety of reasons. “I continue to raise money for other organizations like Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation And this MPTF [Motion Picture & Television Fund] Also,” he said. “And all this gives just one result and that is that my friends don’t pick up my phone anymore. I always ask for money for some reason or the other.”
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