Canadian actor Omar Sharif Jr. has joined the cast of popular Israeli romantic comedy Beauty and the Baker, which is scheduled to air its third season on Channel 12 on Thursday. Sharif is the grandson of the legendary Egyptian actor Omar Sharif, famous for his immortalized roles in Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia.
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Beauty and the Baker follows the love story of simple baker Amos (portrayed by Israeli actor Aviv Alush) and heiress Noa (played by Israeli actress Rotem Sela). Sharif portrays a gay Hollywood agent of Palestinian descent, who is married to an Israeli travel agent.
Series creator Assi Azar tailored the role for Sharif. The two got acquainted shortly after Sharif had come out as gay in a column he wrote for a US magazine. Azar contacted Sharif to offer support after his coming out and the two have kept in touch ever since.
"I watched one episode and immediately fell in love," Sharif told Israel Hayom, stressing that what appealed to him most was the series' multiculturalism.
"I grew up with an Ashkenazi mother, the daughter of Holocaust survivors from Poland, and the family on my father's side are Muslims from Egypt. There was bicultural dialogue [in the family], which is a very unique thing that is also present in Beauty and the Baker, which represents two sides of Israel.
"My mom sent me to a Jewish school in Canada," Sharif continued. "I speak Hebrew as well as Yiddish because it was important for my grandparents that I speak Yiddish. [Growing up,] I visited Israel four or five times. I came here on a school trip and as part of my bachelor's degree studies.
"And although I grew up in Egypt, I understood how important Israel was to the Jews. In the society that I grew up in, I mostly heard negative things about Israel, so it was important for me to figure out what my opinion is on this issue, and I did so while studying for my master's degree, which focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
Q: How did peers back in Egypt react to you starring in an Israeli show?
"They weren't thrilled, unfortunately. There were negative comments, they called me a 'traitor.' But my father was treated the same way when he starred in Funny Girl alongside Barbra Streisand."
Q: What was it like to work with an Israeli cast?
"Amazing. I did not know what to expect, but it was great. Rotem Sela is always a pro. She is a real star. And Mark Ivanir [who plays the travel agent] is an international actor. In a few years, we will surely see him on the Academy Awards stage, winning an Oscar."
Q: And what are you busy with these days?
"I published an autobiography, A Tale of Two Omars, which is sold on Amazon, and in it, I describe the mixed heritage I grew up in. It is a story about love, acceptance, and empathy because that is what we need most, for people to be more understanding of each other, to understand that you can love people even if their opinions are different than yours."
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