Celebrating Ahmed Zaki: Google Doodle pays tribute to Egyptian actor

Today would have been the 'Escape' actor's 71st birthday

Ahmed Zaki has been honoured with a Google Doodle to commemorate the late actor's birthday. Courtesy Google

On what would have been his 71st birthday, Google has paid tribute to legendary Egyptian actor Ahmed Zaki with a Google Doodle.

Zaki died of cancer on March 27, 2005, aged 55. He enjoyed a successful acting career after starring in his first film, Abnaa Al-Samt (The Children of Silence), in 1974, aged 25.

Zaki is one of the region's most renowned actors. His career started after he graduated from the Cairo Higher Institute for Drama Studies in 1974.

He went on to star in more than 60 films and was a frequent collaborator with celebrated Egyptian director Youssef Chahine. His most popular films include Alexandria ... Why?, The Days of Sadat, His Excellency the Minister and The Wife of an Important Man.

Haitham, Zaki's son with Hala Fouad who was also an actor, died suddenly in 2019 at the age of 35 from a sudden circulatory collapse.

At the time of Zaki's death, he was working on a biopic about the Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez. Following his father's passing, Haitham stepped into the lead role, launching his own acting career.

Fifteen years since his death, the actor's appeal endures. In June this year, OSN streamed one of his films every day for a month. Popular Egyptian singer Mohamed Ramadan's career took off after he played the beloved actor in the 2006 drama Cinderella (a biographic series about Egyptian actress Soad Hosny, known as The Cinderella of Egyptian cinema).

Ramadan has since gone on to become one of the Arab world’s most bankable actors.