Actor Mahmoud Hemida was a guest on the show Makom Mona El Shazly, presented by Host Mona El Shazly, in January 2015. She introduced him by saying: Today we are in the company of an actor, who is one of a kind when it comes to his performance, films and selections. Some think that he is little too decisive, but he is totally satisfied with himself in the roles he chooses. He does not show up on a lot of TV shows and he likes his life to stay that way. He is very selective when it comes to friendships and his life choices. When he speaks, he speaks with absolute honesty, when he falls in love, he falls deeply, and when he takes part in a film, he must be 100% into it, so stay tuned today for an exceptional episode.

Sometimes, it is difficult to use the right words to present guests, and here we can sum it up and say he is the greatest when it comes to talent, peace and pride. He is exceptionally devoted and caring for the profession and industry. He is great in encouraging talents, and he was the mastermind in the first role of his works, and he is a master in his evaluation of people. I can only describe him with “the Great” Mahmoud Hemida.

Hemida: Once my children and I were staying at a place in Hurghada, and a friend of mine had a resort there, and he said to me, Mahmoud, today I am holding a miss resort competition. Come and bring your friends along, so we went and there were a lot of people, so the DJ of the party came up and said: The great star Mamdouh Hemida is with us today.. People were looking at each other in confusion, so the DJ repeated the same sentence, and no one clapped, so the owner of the resort said: His name is Mahmoud Hemida.. but no one cheered either.

Hemida: The past week, Tariq Al-Aryan who is the first director I worked with, asked me: Why aren’t you working on any roles? I answered “I am.” He said to me, “not much though”, so I told him because I cannot play a character unless I am totally troubled and burdened with social concerns, as a result of interacting with people. When I have a lot of worries, I feel the need to unload them into a character and if I do not, I tend to explode from pressure. But if I am fine with no worries, I find it difficult to embody a character.

Hemida : I love films and I love watching them, and when I entered the film industry, I had not studied it yet. I started working with Mohamed Khan on his film Fares Al-Madina, and when I saw the way he made films, he suggested that I study filmmaking, so I went ahead and studied production, scriptwriting, videography and direction in order to have an idea of ​​the industry I would be working in.

Hemida : When I started studying, I sent my CV to an institute in CBS Studios. When they reviewed the CV, they found that I worked on 33 feature films, they were very surprised at why I would want to study filmmaking if I am already an established actor! Then they asked me to give general lectures, so I talked about the film industry in a poor country and how we can make films and take care of their details, and there they are well-aware of how to make use of experiences.

Hemida: My grandparents from my father’s side are ruralites from the countryside, and my mother’s family is from the aristocratic class and I lived in each community just as much. We were 5 siblings, but I was the one who worked with my father’s family; I used to hoe the soil, and I was doing it lovingly. I was also named after my grandfather.

Hemida: My grandfather thought that my father let him down and worked as a teacher. I loved my grandfather dearly and he was a judge in customary justice.

Hemida: When I was 15 years old, I traded in livestock and grains.

Hemida: My father, may God’s mercy be upon him, drastically changed my way of thinking, I did not care about money, I only cared about learning; it became the only thing I wanted to do. Before I asked about the money, I stared working for the sake of working. I read a verse of poetry by Fouad Haddad saying that the reward and compensation of the work you do is already ingrained in the work itself, so I learnt that if a person is 100% sincere in the work they do, they should look no further because they have already received their reward and compensation.

Hemida: I used to work on our own farm, and I received the same wage as other farmers, and I was the one who paid the wages. My wage was 15 piasters at the time.

Hemida: I am from a village affiliated to a center in Giza named Atfih.

Hemida: I was 5 years old when I went to our hometown, I gathered all the children against the wish of their parents and we performed a play. I used to light our house, where they acted and I made their families come watch their children act, against their wish as well.

Hemida: I was a little upset during Cannes Festival because I had a slight disagreement with Youssef Chahine, and my disagreements with him were identical to those I had with my father, and they both died in the same week. My disagreements with Chahine strengthened our relationship and elevated it to another level.

Hemida: There are lifestyle measures I cannot do without, meaning that if someone assumes that because we are friends and our relationship is strong, they have the right to ask me to give something up. People will find that they have already lost me there and I will take offence because they are not entitled to such a thing without my permission. A lot of people get shocked about that, for example everyone should respect time, so if we agree to meet at 10 o’clock, you shouldn’t arrive 10:05.

Hemida: I am a Sagittarius.

Hemida: I care more about young people, and that is a fact of life. If we see many people dying, we should take that into account, and if I don’t let my son drive my car, I am an unjust man. I said after the revolution that anyone who has reached the age of fifty should stay at home and I started with myself and I remained at home.

Hemida: We can only pray for the welfare of our children.

Hemida: I love life and life should always be led by young people. The elders should be consulted, but their opinion should remain non-binding, because I do have a vision, but we are not aware of young people’s sources of vision. They are mentally mature and maybe they are even better than us.

Hemida: The 25 January Revolution was staged by our young people.

Hemida: I did a music break before I entered the studio and I used to listen to Abdo Dagher in order to be energized and manage to entertain the Audience.

Hemida: I love all kinds of art and I attend concerts, of course, and I always follow and keep up with my interests.

Hemida: I held poetry sessions only for Fouad Haddad.

Hemida: My daughter and Samia Jahin took part in Eskenderella Band, but they left it, and the band is still alive, which is a good thing.

Hemida: I did not know Fouad Haddad until six months after he died, and my friends never though that I did not know Fouad Haddad.

Hemida: Khairy Shalaby, told me once you are very stupid, so I asked him to tell me honestly. He said with parental concern “did you use to listen to Al Mesaharatiin Ramadan?”, I said, yes, by Mohamed Mekawy. He said there you go, you’re definitely stupid, does Mohamed Mekkawy write songs? At the moment he read a poem called “Raqsat Al Far”, and then, it was the first time for me to understand poetry despite reading and studying it.

Hemida: There were people mocking Fouad Haddad’s poetry.

Hemida: Whenever I face issues, I sort them out with Fouad Haddad’s poetry, for example, all life’s issued are solved with a verse of his.

Hemida: Anyone who gets the impression that I am conceited is certainly correct, because it is possible I have an attitude due to my ignorance, so I look conceited, so his/ her opinion becomes correct, and if another person has a different opinion, then both are correct.

Hemida: When I worked with Amina Rizk, we did a series together, and I cannot describe how seeing her and doing a scene by her side just made me feel powerful. After we finish, I stroll streets proudly without a care in the world. We did the film Harb Al Farawla together.

Hemida: I worked with highly established people, I mean, for example, I worked with Omar Al-Hariri on the radio, and with Mr. Abdullah Ghaith on a film, starring: Nadia El Gendy. It was titled Aser El Qwa and directed by: Nader Galal. I gained great experience from him on the artistic and humane levels.

Hemida: I worked with Saad Ardash on some series such as Haret El Shorafa, and on the same series with Berlenti Abdul Hamid.

Hemida: I wasn’t lucky enough to work with Some people. But I try to learn from their works such as Faten Hamama. I would watch the actor closely and learn whatever corresponds with my abilities. Faten Hamama is highly established, so is Sabah, Mohamed Fawzy, Shadia, Zeenat Sidqi, Ismail Yassin. They are all in my heart.

• Hemida: I was surprised at the screening of the film Ot W far, by a sweet word by the Lady of the Arab Screen Faten Hamama. Before entering the screening hall, I was speaking to the channel reporters, I said before the film, we should pray for the soul of Mrs. Faten Hamama, as it was the idea of director Tamer Mohsen and Ahmed Badawi, the producer of the film who thought about going about it that way, and it was definably a good idea.