‘Cheers, man’. The two-word message Nicolas Mouawad sends me to confirm our appointment. In an industry where egos tend to run unchecked, it’s not the kind of reply you expect from a multi-award-winning actor who has conquered the Arab world—and made a mark on Hollywood too.
With his film His Only Son (2023) cracking the US box office top five; a role alongside Idris Elba in George Miller’s Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022); and regular roles in some of the most-watched and critically acclaimed drama series in the Arab world, Mouawad could easily have let his success go to his head, but instead, he deals in a WhatsApp messages that feel like a fist bumps.
Arriving at Esquire HQ in Dubai, fresh off winning the EMI Gala 2025 award for ‘Best Artist in Fashion’, his smile and energy fills the room before even saying a word. This isn’t an actor putting on a face, this is a Nicolas Mouawad at ease with himself and the world around him. A refreshing cocktail of charisma and relaxed approachability that comes stirred and not shaken.
Wearing a smart-casual button-down shirt and slacks, it’s a far cry from his often polarising red carpet looks that are regularly kindling to social media comment boxes in the Arab world. His coffee order? “Any coffee you have. Whatever is easiest for you.” He owns a sense of calm self-assuredness, and it’s obvious that his humility isn’t an act. It’s just who he is.
Mouawad is a Lebanese film and TV actor who began his journey in 2006. His breakout moment came with Wannous, one of Egypt’s most-watched TV drama series in 2016—a big deal, not just because of the show’s success, but because that kind of crossover is rare. And it put him on a whole new map.
From there, the hits kept coming. Ala Al Hilwa Wa Al Morra (2021)—the first Arabic remake of a Turkish series with a Lebanese male lead—cemented his place as a household name across the region.
“I am constantly looking for roles that don’t resemble me. Comfort zones are boring.”
– Nicolas Mouawad
But his journey to stardom was anything but predictable. An actor by accident, Mouawad originally dreamed of a career behind the camera but, at the time, the reality of being in based in Lebanon made a career in film making seem expensive and unrealistic.
He reluctantly pursued engineering. “I was good at it,” he admits. “But I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t walking towards what I wanted to be.”
Later, he applied to stage acting school, where the entrance exam required him to perform a monologue from Shakespeare’s Richard III. It was during that performance— his very first—that something clicked. “The feeling I got…it was the most beautiful feeling I had ever experienced doing anything,” he recalls, his eyes lighting up. He passed the exam, securing his place, and unknowingly setting the laying the foundation for a lifelong career.
His passion for cinema started early, during Sunday afternoon movie marathons with his father, watching classics like Spartacus, Gone with the Wind, and listening to musical legends like Charles Aznavour and Dalida. “It built a strong sense of nostalgia in me—an empathy—that later has helped me as an actor,” he reflects.
The actor is an introvert who thrives in an industry built on public exposure. A fascinating contradiction. As a kid, he never liked spotlights or crowds. They actually frightened him. Whenever people would visit, he’d hide in his room. “Acting helped me overcome a lot. But I still don’t like being in the spotlight. If I could live off only doing theatre, I would,” he confesses. “The fame remains the hardest part of the job.”
In a moment of rawness that speaks volumes about the emotional toll of his craft, he pulls out his phone to show me a note he wrote while shooting His Only Son—a biblical adaptation where he played Abraham (a role he refers to as defining his career to date).
“Acting is a therapy, but it can also be poisonous,” he says. “With actors, they can willing throw themselves back into the pits they had once struggled to get out of,
and revisit pain they have had to fight hard to overcome… I’ve always questioned the sanity of being an actor.”
The phrase ‘Acting is the gift of living many lifetimes’ sits atop his Instagram bio. It’s a beautiful, almost poetic summation of his philosophy. Acting, for Mouawad, is less about fame and more a study in empathy. It’s about the opportunity to live multiple lives; to express emotions he struggles to reveal in everyday life; and an exercise in how to handle them. “I am constantly looking for roles that don’t resemble me,” he says. “Comfort zones are boring.”
His last two roles are a perfect depiction of that. His recent Abu Dhabi TV series Al-Ameera (2025), Mouawad stands out as a spiteful and manipulative narcissist playing opposite Yasmine Sabri, is a world away from his performance in 2024’s The Assassins, where he plays the complex role of Persian poet Omar Khayyam, who struggled with the value of his existence and the pressure, despite all his contributions to philosophy, and Persian literature.
For Mouawad the challenge is the motivation, not the fame and glory. “If a character isn’t complex, I try to make them complex,” he laughs. In Al Thaman (2023), he personally pushed for his character’s arc to include a battle with cancer—a deeply personal and emotionally risky move, given he lost both his parents to cancer. It was a role so intense it once made him physically vomit on set. “I knew it would be painful, but I also knew it would make the story real,” he says. “I enjoy what I’m doing,” he adds simply. “And that’s enough.”
From being physically sick on set, to walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, Mouawad has experienced plenty in his career so far. He recalls the highs of taking to Cannes’ famous ‘Montée des Marches’ in 2022 flanked by Tilda Swinton, Idris Elba and director George Miller (Mad Max, Lorenzo’s Oil, Happy Feet) to promote their romantic fantasy drama Three Thousand Years of Longing. However, conversely, those achievements didn’t come without moments of doubt. There were several times when he considered quitting acting because he wasn’t earning enough money in Lebanon and was treated poorly by producers. “It didn’t feel fun anymore,” he says. “It was actually Egypt that refreshed my love for my career—and that’s why I owe a lot to Egypt. The way I was embraced and treated from the first role, it restored my faith again.”
For Mouawad, his two escapes in life are movies and going to the beach. So, his sunny summer shoot in Dubai with Esquire Middle East was no accident—the perfect reflection of his current vibe: on holiday, high-spirited and playful.
The beach is not far from Mouawad’s childhood—he comes from the seaside city of Tyre in Lebanon—and it is obvious during the shoot that it is his natural habitat, grinning and kicking the water as if he were five years old again. You could see the child in him coming to life; far from the spotlight; at ease with the sun and sea backdrops, he was alive. Even after long hours of shooting, his spirits remained high.
both by BOSS
His daily rituals are a testament to that energy. No matter where he is in the world, Mouawad starts his day with a non-negotiable morning routine: meditation and prayer, centring him for whatever chaos my lie ahead.
On set, you can immediately tell he connects more with the team behind the camera than with the spotlight itself. There’s no attitude here. He jokes with the crew, helps adjust props, tries all styling options, and needs no second invitation to jump into a waterfall. That rare blend of star power and humility is a large part of what makes him, well, him. “I look at acting like any other job. I’m good at what I do, yes. But it doesn’t give me the right to feel superior,” he says.
Throughout our conversation, one thing becomes very clear, Mouawad doesn’t seek approval—not from critics, not from the public, and certainly not from social media. “Why should I care about the opinions of people I don’t even know?” he shrugs coolly, sipping his coffee.
His fashion isn’t usually loud in day-to-day life, but on the red carpet, it’s a different story. “When I’m on the red carpet, I put on an act—like I’m stepping into a role. I give the carpet the respect it deserves. I’m not into plain black suits.” Although many of his looks were trolled and labelled fashion crimes, he jokes: “There are no crimes in fashion! They are statements—and statements are always valued.”
For a clearer sense of his personal style, you only have to look at the details, notably his rings and bracelets—which he wears as reminders of his journey. There are four rings he never takes off: one from the LA Theatre; one from his first role; his grandfather’s ring; and his wedding ring.
Another, rather unexpected, turn for Mouawad has been his flirtation as a recording artist. Recently, while filming in Turkey, he happened to stay at the home of a music producer—and one impromptu conversation turned into a duet with Turkish star Aylin Yeliz. He wasn’t looking to sing, but the moment found him. And apparently, it’s not the last—a new Turkish ballad is set to be released later this year.
It seems fitting then that during a short break on our shoot, I ask Mouawad what music he’s been listening to on his holiday playlist. He smiles and shows songs including The Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’; ‘The Reason’, by Hoobastank; and Bon Jovi’s ‘It’s My Life’. Held up as a mirror to who he is, they are all tracks that, well, track: emotional, nostalgic, and a little bit rebellious.
But that wild version of him has softened—a shift that came with fatherhood. “I used to not care about death,” he tells me, openly. “I lost my parents early, so I always thought… it could happen to me anytime.” There was a recklessness to how he lived but that changed the day his daughter was born. Suddenly, he had someone he couldn’t bear to leave behind. Those risks he was so happy to take before, became more considered.
As the sun begins to set, Mouawad’s horizon looks bright and sunny. With three projects in post-production—a new Arabic series Imraa (Woman); an international project Karantina filmed in Greece starring James Franco and [Esquire Middle East alumni] Yaqoub Alfarhan and Yasmina El-Abd, and, interestingly a Russian language film, Hostage, which was shot in the UAE and required him to speak Russian—he isn’t slowing down.
As we wrap on our White Lotus-inspired shoot, I ask if he’d ever consider casting for the hit HBO series. He smiles that familiar, mischievous grin as if hiding something. A secret not ready to be shared, or maybe just a quiet manifestation. Either way, you get the sense that with Nicolas Mouawad, the next chapter is likely to be unexpected. Cheers, man.
Photography by Ben Cope / Styling by Imogene Legrande / Senior Producer: Steff Hawker / Hair by Silvio Alkassab / Make-Up by Safiyah Cassim / Fashion Assistant: Dalia Redai. Lighting Assistant: Jeffery Zamora.
Shot on location at: Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai