Ahmed Zaki (actor)

Ahmed Zaki was born in the city of Zagazig, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Cairo, Egypt. He graduated from Zagazig's Crafts School in 1967 and then traveled to Cairo to study cinema before he graduated from the Cairo Higher Institute for Drama Studies in 1974.

Many of his films were written by screenwriter Wahid Hamed and had a strong political message that exposed governmental and police corruption. He also starred in the famous 1985 television comedy musical series Howa wa Heya with actress Soad Hosny. Zaki also starred in a series of successful action movies during the mid-and late-1990s.

Two of his greatest successes were playing Egypt's presidents in two popular movies that became landmarks of Arabic cinema. He played presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser in Nasser 56 (1996), a movie that centered on the fateful summer of 1956 when then-President Nasser nationalizing the Suez Canal, and Anwar Sadat in the movie The Days of Sadat (2001) with director Mohamed Khan which he also produced. The movie depicted 40 years of the late president's life. He also had plans to play President Hosni Mubarak in a third movie. In the 1980s, Zaki had the chance to act alongside Salah Zulfikar, the two starred together in two movies. He was also known for portraying prominent figures in Egyptian history like Taha Hussein.

Zaki was seen as an icon and spokesperson for the average Egyptian youth; he was also considered the heir to Farid Shawki, the two starred together in two movies several years earlier. He was a known heavy smoker. Zaki had been in intensive care at Dar Al Fouad Hospital in Sixth of October City, just outside Cairo, and died of lung cancer complications, after president Hosni Mubarak offered to send him to France for medical treatment at the government's expense and granted him the Order of Merit for his work in over 50 movies.

A book about Zaki has been released under the title of Ahmad Zaki wa Symphoniet Ibda (Ahmad Zaki: A Symphonic Innovation Masterpiece). The book features details of his acting career and includes a compilation of articles by different critics, including Tarek El Shennawi, Mohammad Al Shafe’ee, and Waleed Saif.

On November 18, 2020, Google celebrated his 71st birthday with a Google Doodle, which included boxing gloves to refer to Al Nimr Al Aswad (The Black Tiger), a crab for Kaboria (The Crab), a camera for Edhak El-Sora Tetlaa’ Helwa (Smile, the Picture Will Come Out Fine), and the animals from Arba’a Fi Muhimma Rasmiya (Four on an Official Mission).^[2][3]

• List of Egyptian films of the 1980s
• List of Egyptian films of the 1990s

• Ahmed Zaki at IMDb  
• Ahram Weekly, 31 March – 6 April 2005