Mena Massoud swooped onto the big screen as the lead in the live action 2019 adaptation of Aladdin that broke box office records.
“That’s something I’ll be proud of forever,” he tells The Big Issue. “An all-ethnic cast to cross a billion dollars… I don’t think it had been done before and I don’t think it’s been done since.” The film shook up the industry, but it didn’t initially grant all of Massoud’s wishes. A few months later he said: “I’m kind of tired of staying quiet about it … I want people to know that it’s not. ‘He must have made millions. He must be getting all these offers.’ It’s none of those things. I haven’t had a single audition since came out.”