May Calamawy facts for kids

Quick facts for kids May Calamawy
مي القلماوي
Calamawy in 2025
Born	May El Calamawy (1986-10-28) October 28, 1986 (age 38) Bahrain
Citizenship	Egypt Palestine
Alma mater	Emerson College (BA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

May Calamawy (born October 28, 1986) is an actress with Egyptian and Palestinian roots. She became well-known for playing Layla El-Faouly, who later becomes the superhero Scarlet Scarab, in the Marvel series Moon Knight (2022). This role was special because Layla was the first Egyptian and Arab superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

May grew up in different places like Bahrain, Qatar, and the United States. She has lived in the U.S. since 2015. She studied theatre at Emerson College and also trained at the William Esper Studio in New York. May started her acting career in independent films. She appeared in movies like Thursday (2006) and Together Together (2021). She also had a role in the TV show Ramy (2019–2022). More recently, she was in Gladiator II (2024) and The Actor (2025).

Early Life and Education

May Calamawy was born in Bahrain on October 28, 1986. Her father is Egyptian and worked as a banker. Her mother was Palestinian-Jordanian. May has an older brother.

She spent most of her childhood in Bahrain. She also lived in Doha, Qatar, and Houston, Texas, before she was twelve. May speaks both English and Arabic. She also enjoys playing the piano.

Discovering Acting

May shared that she wanted to become an actress after watching the movie Death Becomes Her (1992) when she was a child. After finishing high school in Bahrain, she moved to Boston, Massachusetts. Her father wanted her to study industrial design, not acting.

At first, her parents were not sure about her studying acting. They wanted her to get a degree that would lead to a steady job. May applied to Emerson College for theatre studies. She told her parents, "If I get in, I'm going." She was accepted and earned a degree in theatre studies. After college, her mother became very supportive of her acting career.

Moving to Dubai and Back to the U.S.

In 2009, May moved to Dubai to help care for her mother, who was very sick. After her mother passed away when May was 25, her father suggested she find a more stable job. She tried this for two years. From 2013 to 2014, she managed a coffee shop in Dubai.

Her mother's passing inspired her to focus on acting again. After living in Dubai for five years, she moved back to the United States in 2015. She wanted to pursue her acting dreams. She then enrolled at the William Esper Studio in New York City to continue her acting training.

Acting Career Highlights

May Calamawy started her career in short films. She used to use her full name, May El Calamawy, but later changed it to May Calamawy. After college, she performed at the New York Arab American Comedy Festival.

Early Film and TV Roles

In 2006, she made her first movie appearance in Thursday. From 2009 to 2014, she worked on short films and a TV pilot in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Her first big movie role was in the 2013 horror film Djinn. This was the first horror film made in the United Arab Emirates.

In 2017, she had a recurring role in the National Geographic series The Long Road Home. She also appeared in episodes of The Brave and Madam Secretary. The next year, she was a guest star in the TV show FBI.

Breakthrough Roles

In October 2018, it was announced that May would play Dena Hassan, Ramy's sister, in the Hulu comedy-drama series Ramy. In 2020, she voiced Ellie Malik in the video game NBA 2K21. In 2021, she appeared in the comedy film Together Together.

In 2022, May Calamawy starred in the Disney+ series Moon Knight. She played Layla El-Faouly, an Egyptian archaeologist. Layla later becomes the Scarlet Scarab, the first Egyptian and Arab superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her character first appeared in the Moon Knight comic books in September 2023.

Recent Projects

In July 2022, May joined the voice cast of the animated TV series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur as a guest star. This show premiered on Disney Channel and Disney+ in 2023. In May 2023, Calamawy joined the cast of Ridley Scott's Gladiator II. She had a small, non-speaking role in a few scenes.

In 2025, May Calamawy played five different characters in Duke Johnson's thriller The Actor. In April 2025, she joined the cast of Lee Cronin's supernatural horror film The Mummy.

Personal Life

May Calamawy has lived in the United States since 2015.

She was diagnosed with alopecia areata at age 22. This is an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. Her character Dena Hassan in Ramy also had alopecia, and this was part of the show's story in its second season.

Filmography

Films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Thursday	Kelly Spencer
2007	Temperance	Leila	Short
2008	Santa Claus in Baghdad	Hala	Short
2011	Hassad Al Möta	Tunnel Zombie	Short
	Paradise Falls	Jenny	Short
2012	A Genie Called Gin	Lucy	Short
2013	Djinn	Aisha
	Moi aussi je t'aime		Short
2017	Passerby	Saba	Short
2019	The Bed	Woman	Short
	Saeed	Sue	Short
	1 Out of 30	Fatimah	Short
2021	Together Together	Carly
	Meet Cute	Girl	Short
2024	Gladiator II	Macrinus's companion	Uncredited cameo appearance; role reduced due to deleted scenes
2025	The Actor
2026	The Mummy		Post-production
0TBA	The Closet	Annie	Short
0TBA	Night Feeds	The Mother

Television

Video games

See also

In Spanish: May Calamawy para niños