Rami Malek Celebrates His Egyptian Roots in His Heartfelt Oscar Acceptance Speech
If you didn’t stay up all night watching the glitz and glam of the highly anticipated 91st Academy Awards ceremony, then you probably missed out on a lot! Apart from superstars turning heads on the red carpet and who wore what, the Arab world was on the edge of their seats, with fingers crossed for Lebanese Nadine Labaki, Syrian Talal Derki, and American-Egyptian Rami Malek, which one of them ended up landing an Oscar!
Malek proudly went home last night with his first Oscar ever making him the first actor of Egyptian descent to actually win the award. Malek, who was named Best Actor in a Leading Role, was the second to receive an Oscar nomination after late Egyptian Actor Omar Sharif.
The actor who portrayed Queen’s legendary Lead Singer Freddie Mercury gave a powerful acceptance speech. Being extremely touched and excited, he wrapped it up saying, “I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I am a first generation American, and part of my story is being written right now and I could not be more grateful.”
Besides being proud of his Egyptian roots, Malek even expressed his pride to be representing the Middle East at the press room post the prestigious event. “As I got older, I realized how beautiful my heritage and my tradition is,” Malek told MTV Lebanon’s reporter. “And the wealth of culture and magic and music and film and just pure art that comes out of the middle east and now I’m so privileged to represent it,” he continued.
In the midst of all the excitement and applause, Malek tripped falling off the Oscar stage after his speech. He was seen with medics, but no worries, our boy is just fine!
