Arab Casting-2 win only the beginning for Ahmed Saeed

Manama : A young Bahraini is on a path to stardom after he won the Arab Casting-2, a reality television series and  talent show performed in front of a celebrity panel of judges. 

Ahmed Saeed won the best male actor in Middle East award at the Arab Casting show, to become the first Bahraini to achieve such a feat. 

The widely popular show featured 120 contestants from all over the Middle East and Saeed was the only Bahraini selected to participate. Winning the competition has opened up many possibilities for him. A company in Abu Dhabi has already signed up for a TV show. His reputation as a competition winner has put him in a spotlight in the industry.

“About two weeks after the show, I received an offer to act in a comedy TV series in Abu Dhabi. We have not started shooting yet, but I am very excited and looking forward to it,” said Saeed.

Gaining fame within the Middle East is only “the beginning”, and that his ultimate aim is to perform in Hollywood, he told DT News. 

“Winning the show accelerates me towards my goals. First, I have attracted a huge audience from all over the Arab region, second, I am now known to many production companies and might be selected for certain productions. I will not stop here, my aim is to be an international actor. My audience selected me to be the Arab Casting star and just as they have faith in me, I also have faith in them that they will push me forward to be an international actor. I believe  nothing is impossible,” he said. 

Having entered the competition only “to gain experience” with no expectation of winning, and he is still coming to terms with his big win. “The moment they announced my name, I suddenly had a flashback of all of the hard work I had put throughout the two months of Arab Casting. And then I though about the strong competitors I faced, all of whom could have won the show. I was in disbelief and with that a feeling of satisfaction and excitement came over me,” he said. He described his experience at the competition as exciting and memorable. 

“Each act’s experience differed from one another as I was progressing forward. In the first act, I performed a skit “Antara and Abla”. My role was Antara, a well known courageous strong fighter and a poet who loved Abla and would do anything impossible to be with her, regardless of their family conflicts. In the second act, I performed in a skit called ‘Mother’s day’. This skit was about portraying the emotions and the mental condition of the character which was extremely hard. One of my challenges during this experience was changing my Bahraini accent to an Egyptian one. 

Although I had never practiced this accent ever before, I succeeded in performing the Egyptian accent live on stage. 

In the third act called “mannequin” I played a character who was mentally sick, and imagining himself dancing and talking to a mannequin which he believed came to life. 

“In the fourth act, I played a character who betrays his best friend for a girl, this experience wasn’t as good as the previous ones but I accomplished it regardless. In the fifth act, I played a husband who had a conflict and an argument with his wife who was in her menopause period. Again, this required a complete focus on details and feelings. In the last 3 acts, I made some outstanding performances. I realized that teamwork is extremely important and is the main key to success,” he said.