Ramy Youssef

Ramy Youssef (, ; born March 26, 1991) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his role as Ramy Hassan on the Hulu comedy series Ramy (2019–2022), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy and a Peabody Award in 2020. He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Early life and education Ramy Youssef was born in 1991 in Queens, a borough of New York City, to Egyptian immigrant parents, and raised in Rutherford, New Jersey. Youssef was raised in a Muslim household, observing Islamic holidays, and remains a practicing Muslim.

Youssef attended Rutherford High School. In high school, he and his friend Steve Way appeared on their high school television program. He went on to study political science and economics at Rutgers University, Newark, but he left before graduating to enroll at William Esper Studio to focus on acting.

Youssef speaks Arabic and English. His maternal grandfather was a French and Arabic interpreter at the United Nations. The show, in which Youssef plays the title character, tells the story of a millennial first-generation Muslim-American born to immigrant parents in the United States. Soon after its first season debuted, Hulu renewed it for a second season. He received a Golden Globe in January 2020 for this role, and was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, as both an actor and director.

In June 2019, Youssef starred in his first HBO stand-up comedy special, Ramy Youssef: Feelings.

Along with Mo Amer, Youssef is the co-creator of Mo, an American comedy-drama streaming television series that premiered on August 24, 2022, on Netflix.

After the debut of Ramy, Youssef signed an overall television production deal with A24. As of December 2019, he had two shows in development, one for Apple TV+ and one for Netflix.

In 2021, he was nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy for Ramy. Ramy season three premiered in the United States on 30 September 2022.

In a February 2024 interview, Youssef told Vanity Fair that his art has often taken him to Palestine, including to perform stand-up comedy in 2014 and in the aforementioned third season of Ramy. On December 8, 2023, Youssef's "More Feelings" show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), which donated all proceeds from ticket sales to ANERA, drew headlines when celebrities including Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez attended. in the 2023 film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

On March 30, 2024, Youssef hosted Saturday Night Live.

In August 2024, it was announced that Youssef was entering into a partnership with Netflix to develop serialized first-look projects through his production company Cairo Cowboy.

In 2025, Youssef co-created, alongside Pam Brady, #1 Happy Family USA for Amazon Prime Video. The same year, he received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University and gave the commencement speech.

Personal life Youssef has been married to a visual artist from Saudi Arabia since 2022. He met his wife through May Calamawy, his co-star in Ramy.

He signed an open letter to President Biden on October 20, 2023 by 55 prominent artists and advocates in the entertainment industry calling for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza during the Israeli invasion. Youssef also wore an "Artists for Ceasefire" pin at the 2024 Academy Awards. Youssef prayed for God to "Please free the people of Palestine. And please free the hostages" during his Saturday Night Live monologue on March 30, 2024.

Ramy (episode: "Miakhalifa.mov")

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series The Bear

Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Individual Achievement in Comedy

Comedy/Variety – Specials Ramy Youssef: Feelings

Entertainment Mo

Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series The Bear