In 2018, Host Imad Dabour, cleverly introduced Mahmoud Hemida without going on and on about his works, but said briefly that “Hemida” is a person who can make you laugh or cry, and this is his primary role: “entertainment”, or as he says, he is passionate about his art and he has ideas that he has implemented in his normal and artistic life, and he always tries to restore concepts to their origins.

Hemida: I insist on using the word actor, not artist, because it does not reflect what I do and I prefer the title: “actor”.

Hemida: When I turned 30, I found that I didn’t recall anything from what I read. So, I started re-reading what I had read before.

Hemida: At the age of 30, I was still not a professional actor.

Hemida: I started reading from a young age.. I discovered that at the age of 30 and I was in the company of Mr. Khairy Shalaby who told me: they made a new edition of the book War and Peace, get me one. So I bought the four parts for 16 pounds. I bought them for him, myself and 2 of my friends also. I had already read it before when I was 12, and when I meet someone I ask them if they had read War and Peace.

Hemida: Whenever I opened page 101, I found that I couldn’t recall anything from the previous pages.

Hemida: Khairy Shalaby told me then: to read with the purpose of gaining knowledge, you should wear a suit and sit at a desk. Indeed, I went to wear my cravat even my wife was weirded out. I finished the first part, which was 700 pages, and then I felt that I grasped what I read and here I knew I had been through an exceptional mental transformation.

Hemida: I think that giving something up is not equivalent to failure, and continuing something is not equivalent to success.

Hemida: My experience as a distributor did not work out and I had already opened that company to distribute the film Gannet Al-Shayateen.

Hemida: The film Gannet Al-Shayateen was chosen as one of the best films of the twentieth century, and it was the first film to be made by the surround sound system, in addition to the publicity system, and all cast were new talents except for me and Mrs. Lebleba.

Hemida: I’ve never studied cinema, but I watch it.

Hemida: We made theatrical works when we watched it. But it wasn’t intentional, it was because we did not learn well.

Hemida: I tend to reveal and expose the flaws that ultimately lead to the ability to criticize oneself. But we do not like that, even though it is important and I have been practicing it and I love those who criticize me bluntly.

Hemida: Whoever killed Farag Fouda does not know Farag, and whoever attacked Naguib Mahfouz does not know Naguib Mahfouz.

Hemida: We should learn to love each other and stop fighting.

Hemida: I like to call people by their name. I used do that with Mourad Wahba. I would say good morning, Mourad.

Hemida: Acting is my job. You go up to a maker who you hear is good at their job to make you a living room, or you would go to a carpenter who you hear is very skillful. So, sincerity at work and loyalty to the public are my area of expertise and I love to entertain the audience and that has always been my goal.

Hemida: My happiest moments begin after I finish work. The harder I work, the more satisfied and content I feel and I am always grateful for the reaction of the audience, whether negative or positive.

Hemida: The critic gives insight to the actor and the audience at the same time in order to make progress. However, some people are very harsh and their intent is just to destroy others, and on another hand there are objective critics.

Hemida: I take part in politics as a very ordinary citizen of this society, and not as a real activist.

Hemida: I am biased to my fellows in society if they are harmed, I suffer with them.

Hemida: I like to be part of the social situation but not on air.

Hemida: The mind holds no nationality.

Hemida: Amany Nashed has been a presenter who likes to show the community as is, so she once asked a salesperson by the northwestern coast, who are you selling to? He answered: I sell to tourists. She said: good, but you’re not suffering from a language barrier? He said no I know how to speak Lebanese and Saudi, so she said to him: These are all the same language, he said: How would you know, even though they are all Arabic languages.

Hemida: Yes, I am a lover of the Arabic language, and we have to restore and appreciate it even the colloquial language. My favorite poet writes in Classical Arabic language and what people don’t know about Fouad Haddad is that he is a unique and incomparable poet who wrote unprecedented texts in Classical Arabic.

Hemida: Al Massir is a historical film, and historians said that Youssef Chahine did not convey the character as they saw it.

Hemida: Youssef Chahine added to me on both the conscious and unconscious levels.

Hemida: The best thing that remains with me is Youssef Chahine, I never forget him.

Hemida: My father, after he died, I spent a while trying to call him on his phone as I was used to talking to him every morning.