Said Malek: What Happened To Rami Malek’s Father?

Said Malek is the father of actor and producer Rami Said Malek. Said’s son Rami Malek is one of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine. He is the one who portrayed Elliot Alderson in the television series Mr. Robot (2015–2019) and Freddie Mercury in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Said Malek: Bio Summary

Who Is Rami Malek’s Father, Said Malek?

Said Malek is an Egyptian immigrant who is known because he is the father of actor Rami Malek. While his date of birth is unknown, he is said to have been born in Egypt. His parent’s names and occupations are unknown. Nothing is known about his educational background. He worked as a travel agent and tour guide, and sold insurance. He met and married a woman named Nelly Abdel-Malek, who was an accountant.

In addition to Rami Malek, Said and Nelly had two other children, a daughter Yasmine Malek, and a son Sami Malek. Yasmine is the oldest. Sami and Rami are identical twins. Rami is 4 minutes older than Sami. In the year 1978, Said and his partner Nelly left Cairo for the United States with their oldest child Yasmine. Initially, Said’s wife Nelly “did not want to leave” to the US.

Nelly had “family and friends, right next door, and it was hard to give up that for a city like LA that can sometimes feel estranged from neighborhood to neighborhood.” Following the move, the family settled in Sherman Oaks, mostly staying in the San Fernando Valley. The twins Sami Malek and Rami Malek were born in the United States. Rami said:

“My mum and dad left Cairo in 1978. My dad was working as a travel agent there, and he would pick up visitors from the west. Through them he saw this other world that existed and he was fascinated by it.” Said and Nelly’s children were raised in the family’s Coptic Orthodox Christian faith. They taught their children the importance of preserving their Egyptian roots.

“It was, ‘You are not losing these roots. This is very important for us. You can’t compromise who we are and become Americanised.’ That was a thing that my father was very cognisant of,” Rami said. Said Malek made sure his children were not disconnected from their family in Egypt and kept in contact with them. He didn’t mind waking Rami up in the middle of the night to talk on the phone to his Arabic-speaking extended family in Samalut.

Rami said of his father: “My dad was a magnificent storyteller. He could set the picture and the tone of what his childhood was like, what it looked like, who was living there. It was a beautiful thing to pick up the phone and go from one person to the other. I grew up with them over the phone.” Rami has often spoken about his Egyptian roots. He once said:

ALSO, READ: Nelly Malek: Is Rami Malek’s Mother Still Alive?

“There’s no first-generation, or second-generation removed. I am Egyptian. I grew up listening to Egyptian music. I loved Umm Kulthum. I loved Omar Sharif. These are my people. I feel so gorgeously tied to the culture and the human beings that exist there. I acknowledge that I have a different experience, but I am so enamoured and intertwined with Egyptian culture. It is the fabric of who I am.”

Rami has stated that his heritage is close to his heart. He has referred to himself as an “American-Egyptian”. He said: “It’s important to represent my Egyptian heritage. I grew up in Los Angeles, which not everybody knows has a big Egyptian community. I think that’s probably because the climate is similar to Cairo. We spoke Arabic in the family home while growing up.”

Said Malek Wanted His Actor Son To Be A Lawyer

Said Malek and Nelly Malek’s children are all involved in different careers. Yasmine Malek is an ER doctor, Sami Malek is an ESL and English teacher, and Rami Malek is an actor and producer. Said and Nelly were not too happy about Rami’s decision to work in the entertainment industry. They didn’t want him to become an actor. They wanted him to pursue a career in law or medicine.

However, Rami Malek who was “crazy and stubborn, as they would say”, chose to “study fine arts and theatre.” Rami told Vogue Man Arabia: “My brother is a teacher and my sister a doctor. My parents’ reactions to my career were a result of them caring about me, but at the start they let me know that they didn’t think it was a stable career.”

Rami Malek said: “My family are very creative, very intelligent, very loveable. But I’m first-generation American… I don’t think my parents ever thought that being an actor would be the best use of this transatlantic trip of theirs. You know, reshuffling their entire existence, so I could take a shot in the arts?” Eventually, Said and Nelly Malek gave a positive reaction to Rami’s decision to pursue an acting career.

Rami once recalled early in his career, “being in my parents’ apartment stuffing résumés and head shots into envelopes, only to keep hearing the word “no”. His father Said Malek told him that he “is tenacious” and according to Rami “that stuck with” him.

ALSO, READ: Yasmine Malek: Who Is Rami Malek’s Sister?

What Happened To Rami Malek’s Father?

Said Malek is said to have passed away in 2006. The cause of his death is unknown. Many details regarding his death are unavailable. Following his death, his family remained very close to each other. A friend close to Rami Malek said (per the Mirror): “The family are very close and, as twins, Sami and Rami are, of course, extremely close. When their father Said died, they became a very tight-knit group.”

“His death really hit them hard and Rami really looked up to his dad, who always encouraged him to stay close to his family. His mother, siblings and cousins are all incredibly proud of Rami and his achievements.” Said Malek was not alive to witness Rami’s ultimate success.