TV-MOVIES

Who Plays Layla In Moon Knight?

By JULIA SELINGER
Egyptian-Palestinian actor May Calamawy plays Layla El-Faouly in "Moon Knight." According to Variety, director and executive producer Mohamed Diab advocated for Calamawy's casting, as well as the script change that made the character Egyptian.
Some of Calamawy's acting credits include episodes of "Madame Secretary," "The Brave," and "FBI.” She is perhaps best known for her work on the Emmy-winning series "Ramy," in which she plays a first-generation Egyptian-American living in a Muslim community in New Jersey.
Calamawy hopes to bring the same sort of representation to "Moon Knight," pulling from her Egyptian background to enrich Layla. "I didn't want to pull inspiration from someone in the West. I specifically wanted to do that with women from the Middle East," she stated in a recent interview.