Actor, comedian, filmmaker, and former Esquire Middle East cover star Ramy Youssef has just scored himself a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. But rather than being in front of the camera, it is in fact his directorial efforts that are being celebrated. Specifically, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, for an episode from The Bear season 2, ‘Honeydew’.
This episode focuses on Marcus, played by Lionel Boyce, and his odyssey through the culinary world of Copenhagen, where he learns from the same Scandinavian masters who educated mister “yes, chef” himself, Carmy, aka Jeremy Allen White.
When discussing what it was like to be directed by Youssef, Lionel Boyce applauded his the Egyptian-American, stating, “Ramy and I would meet up and walk around Copenhagen and just talk about relationships. Specifically, the relationships that Marcus has with everyone and everything around him.” Adding, “The shoe doesn’t drop…Ramy was really thoughtful about crafting that. He’s such a team player, always there to support us all.”
Youssef can now boast of three Emmy nominations to his name, with this being the second for directing, the first of which came in 2020 where he directed an episode of Ramy, of which he is also a creator. Earlier this year, Youssef was nominated for a Director’s Guild of America award for the same episode of The Bear.
Although he has yet to bring home an Emmy, Youssef does have a Golden Globe which he won for best performance by an actor in comedy or musical, for his own show, Ramy.
Ramy has had quite the impressive year, starring in (arguably) the most exciting director in recent memory, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar-winning Poor Things, alongside Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe.
According to IMDB, his next major role will be in the animated film Hump (2024), about a camel, desert fox and goat, and their journey through the Arabian desert in order to find their friend.