Mena Massoud’s path from pre-med to acting

Mena Massoud’s route to acting began with expectations that pointed elsewhere. Like many families who prioritize conventional career paths, his parents encouraged academics and wanted him to become a doctor. Both of his sisters became pharmacists, and Massoud enrolled in a pre-med neuroscience program at the University of Toronto.

But he ultimately left neuroscience to apply to theater school, which accepted only 30 students. The decision meant stepping away from the future his family had hoped for and committing to a profession with no guarantee of success. Early in theater school, a teacher sat the class down and warned them: “Only one or two of you will make it in this industry.”

For some students, that was a reason to doubt their prospects. Massoud recalled that a few instead believed they would be among those who succeeded. Choosing acting, he said, required “so much defiance and so much willpower”—a decision he was determined not to reverse. He described being “ten toes down” and knowing that, once he had made the choice, there was no looking back.

Defiance, grit and commitment to the craft

Massoud’s resolve was more than a declaration: he committed to acting despite warnings about how few people succeed and the expectations that had pointed him toward medicine. After leaving pre-med neuroscience at the University of Toronto for theater school, he decided there would be no looking back. “It took so much defiance and so much willpower,” he said.

He backed that conviction with years of practical effort. Massoud waited tables in Toronto for three or four years, saved money and secured the O-1 visa he needed to work in the United States as an artist. He also described himself as someone who thrives on organization and planning, including looking at the numbers. His path shows that commitment to a creative goal can involve both sustained work and careful preparation.

Effort does not mean refusing to learn or adjust. Feedback and recalibration can help, but they should not erode the resolve to pursue a chosen direction. Evaluate your choices, look for ways to improve and give the work your full effort; spending too much energy second-guessing every move can take it away from the craft itself.

Surrendering attachment to career outcomes

For Massoud, persistence does not mean believing that effort can dictate every result. Artists must keep doing the work and looking for ways to improve, while also surrendering to the industry, the universe and the parts of a career that cannot be controlled. “You have to do the work, you have to constantly be seeing how to improve yourself,” he said, “but also you kind of just have to surrender to the beast.”

That lesson became especially important after Aladdin, when Massoud found himself measuring later experiences against a remarkable high point. Starring in a blockbuster with Will Smith was difficult to match. “What is higher in my industry, in my trajectory, than like doing a blockbuster with Will Smith... You can’t really compare anything to that,” he said. Trying to claw back to that pinnacle meant expecting another rare accomplishment to follow an already rare one.

He compared the feeling to the comedown Olympic athletes describe after the Games. The answer was not to stop striving, but to loosen his grip on where each opportunity had to lead. Hard work and a commitment to growth remained his responsibility; whether the industry delivered another peak was not something he could force. His lesson is to stay devoted to the craft while allowing outcomes to unfold.

Returning to artistic purpose and finding support

After Aladdin, Massoud found himself trying to claw his way back to the rare pinnacle of doing a blockbuster with Will Smith. Reconnecting with his original reason for acting helped shift his focus. He worked on Wish You Were Here, a film he found more artistically fulfilling than anything he had done up to that point. “My confidence and my faith returned,” he said, “when I went back to the core of why it was I got into the industry,” which was simply his love of the art form.

Massoud also stresses that artists need support for the mental demands of a difficult industry. He recommends seeing a therapist, reflecting on what is happening, or journaling—whatever helps someone mentally along the journey.

He points to actors he admires, including Pedro Pascal, Christoph Waltz and Bryan Cranston, whose careers did not perfectly align until later. Their paths remind him that success may come in time. “You just have to have faith that it’s all going to work out,” he said.