Starting out as fashion blogger and model at the age of 17, and now a rising talented actress, Huda El Mufti caught the attention of audiences with her spontaneity and screen presence. With a number of successful screen roles under her belt over the past few years, she is a serious actress to be reckoned with. Our cover star for this issue, the charming El Mufti posed for our cameras in full glam, wearing the season’s trendiest outfits, before sitting down with eniGma’s Farida Elserty to discuss her meteoric rise to success and her plans going forward.
Growing up watching movies from Egypt’s golden age of cinema, Huda El Mufti always wanted to get into acting somehow. “The golden era icons of Egyptian cinema, like Faten Hamama and Nadia Lotfy, left an extraordinary mark on my soul,” she recalls. To start her journey into cinema, El Mufti studied Drama and Theatre Criticism at the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University. “Studying Drama and Theatre at university was a life-changing experience. I learned so much about different kinds of performances,” she asserts.
After going to numerous auditions, El Mufti finally landed her first role, as Nadine in the critically acclaimed Ramadan TV series, Haza Al Masaa (This Evening) by Tamer Mohsen, in 2017. With this first role, her career took off. She caught everyone’s attention and was cast in one TV series after another, including Ladayna Akwalon Okhra (We Have Further Comments), alongside the Egyptian superstar Yousra and Ka’eno Embareh (Like It Was Yesterday), both in 2018. She also took part in the five-episode story, Ma Teegy Ya Meligy (Let’s Go Meligy), in the multiple-themed TV drama Naseeby W Esmetak (My Destiny, Your Fate), in 2019. In Ramadan 2020, she starred with the legendary Adel Imam in the TV drama, Valentino.
In 2020, El Mufti made her debut on the big screen with roles in Ras El Sana (New Year’s Eve) and Banat Sanawy (High School Girls). In 2021, she took part in the comedy-fantasy film, Dido, and starred with Mohamed Sharnouby in Fare’ Khebra (Experience Difference). Meanwhile, she was also appearing all over the streaming platforms in several successful shows, such as Shahid’s Bimbo and Nemra Etneen (Number Two), Netflix’s Ma Wara’ Al-Tabi’a (Paranormal), and WATCH IT’s Tahqeeq (Investigation). She was rapidly becoming a household name and her fan base grew exponentially.
El Mufti’s latest role, which is one of her favourites, was Narges in the film Kira W El Gin (Kira & El Gin), starring Hend Sabry, Ahmed Ezz, and Karim Abdel Aziz. Other roles that are close to her heart include that of Lina in Ka’eno Embareh, Lana in Bimbo, Ghada in Tahqeeq, and Nabawya in Valentino. “It was a pleasure working on these projects, and they are all dear to my heart in one way or another,” she says.
El Mufti finds that connecting with nature inspires her on many levels and that reading and meditating help her creativity. A spiritual person, she picks her roles after much deliberation, and to date, her repertoire has been diverse and unique. “I read the script many times before picking any new role. Before deciding, I ask myself, Could I be her? Could I love her? Could I defend her?” she says, adding, “I try to find something in common between me and the character until I create the character within me. I become her with all my senses and emotions. I want to be remembered not just as a successful or talented actress; I want people to feel connected to me through my roles on TV and in cinema. I want others to remember me as the person who made them feel something.”
El Mufti is also not shy to speak her mind on social media and elsewhere about societal issues she feels strongly about. She is known for her stands against injustice and for using her platform to elevate issues that are close to her heart. “I think if I weren’t an actress, I would have loved to be a lawyer to help others,” she exclaims.
While she is appreciative of her new-found fame, El Mufti finds it hard at times. “What is daunting about fame is that sometimes you just want privacy, but you can’t have it because people always stare at you. So, you always have to act in a certain way to avoid clashes with anyone–even if you do not like that,” she laments. However, she is fine with all of that, as long as she is doing what she enjoys most, which is acting. “I love acting so much. I love how it gives me the chance to live another life with another person’s beliefs, characteristics, and emotions for a period of time,” she explains.
While her success in a relatively short span of time has been impressive, El Mufti never takes it for granted. She says the best advice she received about that was ‘not to overthink it and to do what you want to do regardless of the consequences.’ “For me, it is hard to rate myself as an actress because I always feel that my work is incomplete and I always spot the mistakes,” she says, adding, “I have never believed that I have made it. I always work on myself by learning new things and exploring new cultures.”
In fact, few can do what El Mufti does, namely, take on several acting roles simultaneously, the way she did when she took on three movies this summer: Kira W El Gin, Bahebak (I love you), and Amouhoum (Their Uncle). “It was a little bit hard to take on different roles at once, but I was also lucky because I built each character in different time slots. Happily, I was able to break out from the three characters after filming!” she recounts, adding that all of them were challenging for her on different levels. Nonetheless, the most arduous of the three was the role of Narges in Kira W El Gin because the character was from a time period with different beliefs and ideas.
Looking ahead, El Mufti’s fans will be happy to know that she will be returning to the small screen soon in the new series Mahb El Reeh (The Wind) alongside the iconic Hend Sabry, Eyad Nassar, Joumana Mourad, Noha Abdeen, and many more. “I am so excited about this role, and I hope everyone likes it,” she exclaims.