Ramy Youssef

Ramy Youssef was born in 1991^[3] in Queens, a borough of New York City, to Egyptian immigrant parents,^[4] and raised in Rutherford, New Jersey.^[5] Ten years after emigrating from Egypt, his father became a manager at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.^[6] Youssef was raised in a Muslim household, observing Islamic holidays, and remains a practicing Muslim.^[7][8]

Youssef attended Rutherford High School. In high school, he and his friend Steve Way appeared on their high school television program.^[9][5] 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.^[10][11]

Youssef speaks Arabic and English.^[12] His maternal grandfather was a French and Arabic interpreter at the United Nations.^[12]

Youssef was the 2023 Distinguished Graduate recipient awarded by Rutherford High School, the local high school he attended.

Youssef made his acting debut in 2012 on the Nick at Nite sitcom See Dad Run, in which he had a main role. During the run of the show, he shadowed the writers' room, an experience he would bring to his own show in 2019.^[5]

In 2017, Youssef appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he performed his stand-up routine.^[5]

His television series Ramy debuted on Hulu on April 19, 2019, with 10 episodes.^[13] 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.^[14][15] Soon after its first season debuted, Hulu renewed it for a second season.^[16] 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.^[17]

In June 2019, Youssef starred in his first HBO stand-up comedy special, Ramy Youssef: Feelings.^[18]

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.^[19]

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.^[20]

In 2021, he was nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy for Ramy.^[10][21][22] Ramy season three premiered in the United States on 30 September 2022.^[23]

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.^[12]

In 2023, Youssef toured his comedy show "More Feelings" and announced that proceeds from the final 12 nights would raise funds for Gaza through American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).^[24] 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.^[24]

Youssef had his first major movie role^[25] in the 2023 film Poor Things, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

On March 30, 2024, Youssef hosted Saturday Night Live.^[26]

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.^[27]

In 2025, Youssef co-created, alongside Pam Brady, #1 Happy Family USA for Amazon Prime Video.^[28] The same year, he received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Rutgers University and gave the commencement speech.^[29]

Youssef has been married to a visual artist from Saudi Arabia since 2022.^[30][31] He met his wife through May Calamawy, his co-star in Ramy.^[30] He is private about his personal life, and has chosen not to disclose his wife's personal details publicly.^[30][32]

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.^[33] Youssef also wore an "Artists for Ceasefire" pin at the 2024 Academy Awards.^[34] 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.^[26]