May el-Calamawy is an actress from Egypt and Palestine. She was born on October 28, 1986, in Bahrain. Her dad was Egyptian and worked as a banker, while her mom was Palestinian-Jordanian. She grew up mostly in Bahrain, but also lived in Qatar and Texas as a child.
May speaks English and Arabic. She decided to become an actress after watching the movie “Death Becomes Her” when she was young.
She finished high school in Bahrain and then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, at 17 to study industrial design, as her dad wanted. Later, she lived in Dubai before returning to the US to pursue acting.
May attended Emerson College and got a B.A. in theatre studies. She also studied at the William Esper Studio in New York City.
Her acting career began in short films, using her full name, May El Calamawy. She later changed it to May Calamawy. She appeared in various TV shows and films, including the horror movie “Djinn” in 2013, filmed in the UAE.
In 2018, she joined the cast of the Hulu series “Ramy,” playing Dena Hassan. She also voiced a character in the video game NBA 2K21. In 2021, she was in the comedy film “Together Together” and later starred in Disney+’s “Moon Knight” as Layla El-Faouly.
May has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease, which was part of Dena Hassan’s storyline in “Ramy.” Since 2015, she has lived in the United States.