Mena Massoud Opens Up About Feeling Like An Outcast With 'Man About Town' Magazine

Mena Massoud goes shirtless on the new cover of Man About Town magazine.

Here’s what the 27-year-old Aladdin star shared:

On being boxed in on the roles he could get: “[I could] only audition for characters with ethnic names. I could never go in for character who were cool dudes, who fell in love with hot girls, like in Riverdale. There was no space. And I still think it’s a massive problem.”

On connecting with Aladdin: “[Aladdin] is a young man finding his way in the world. He’s trying to figure out his identity. When he meets a pretty girl and he thinks he’s not good enough…I grew up feeling like that. I also felt like an outcast. I went to a high school that didn’t have a lot of visibly ethnic people. I felt very different from everybody. And Aladdin is the same. […] I connected to that, because I knew I could bring my own experience to the role.”

On the diversity of Aladdin: “Everyone on screen is a person of colour and not only that, we’re all from very different places […] You know, I’m Egyptian-Canadian. Naomi is British-Indian. Marwan is Tunisian-Dutch. Navid [Negahban] is Iranian-American, but he also spent time in Germany. It’s all incredibly diverse and I hope people celebrate that.”

See more of Mena‘s feature on ManAboutTown.tv