Amir El-Masry, Ben in The One, is an Egyptian actor and Hollywood film star.
His character is central to the plot of Netflix’s new cat-and-mouse thriller about a company that matches people based on their DNA.
What else has he been in? Read on to find out more about the star of the streaming giant‘s latest drama.
Who is Amir El-Masry, who plays Ben in The One?
Amir was born in Cairo and raised in London.
He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and shortly after his graduation in 2013, he landed a role in US political drama Rosewater.
Before breaking into acting, he studied criminology and sociology at Royal Holloway, University of London.
What is he in, including Star Wars?
After Rosewater, Amir starred in the 2016 BBC series The Night Manager alongside The Crown actress Olivia Colman, Blackadder star Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki in the Marvel films.
Other TV shows on his acting CV include Casualty (in 2013), Tyrant (2015), McMafia (2018), Stalling (2018), Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018) and Industry (2020).
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He’s also been in a number of films, including Star Wars.
Amir was in the The Rise of Skywalker, playing a character called Masir Trach – a member of the First Order, the baddies in the sci-fi series’ sequel trilogy.
Did he win a BAFTA?
No, Amir is yet to win a BAFTA award.
He played Sayed in the 2017 Channel 4 series The State. That series received a Best Mini-Series nomination at the 2018 BAFTAs.
Ultimately, BBC’s Three Girls – about the Rochdale child sex abuse ring – won that year.
The One is set five minutes in the future… where a DNA test can find your perfect partner.
Amir received a Best Actor nomination at the British Independent Film Awards for his role as Omar in the refugee drama Limbo.
At the age of 18, he was in a film called Ramadan Mabrouk Abou El-Alamein Hamouda. That earned him Best Young Actor at the Egyptian Oscars.
Who is Ben in The One?
In The One, Amir’s character is called Ben, a former friend of Rebecca Webb (Hannah Ware). Rebecca is the founder of MatchDNA.
At the start of the series, Ben has been missing for some time when his body is discovered at the bottom of the Thames.
The police investigation into the circumstances around his death, led by cops Kate (Zoe Tapper) and Nick (Gregg Chillin), forms the centre of the plot.
The One’s official synopsis reads: “The One is set five minutes in the future, in a world where a DNA test can find your perfect partner – the one person you’re genetically predisposed to fall passionately in love with.
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“No matter how good your relationship, which one of us can honestly say we haven’t thought about whether there is someone better out there? What if a hair sample is all it takes to find them? The idea is simple, but the implications are explosive.
“We will never think of love and relationships in the same way again.”
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