Amin El Gamal

In just a few short years, actor Amin El Gamal went from relative newcomer to an experienced supporting player in features like "Message to the King" (2016) and high-profile television series like "The Newsroom" (HBO, 2012-14) and the rebooted "Prison Break" (Fox, 2017-). Born to Egyptian immigrants in Palo Alto, California, he was fascinated with performing from a very early age, and earned his first stage experienced while still in pre-school. Shyness and lack of self-confidence kept him away from acting until his freshman year of college at Stanford University, where he performed in numerous plays before earning his bachelor's degree in drama and English. Upon graduation, El Gamal relocated to Los Angeles, where he obtained his master's degree from the University of Southern California's Dramatic Arts program in 2011 and worked in local theater and independent short films. In 2012, he earned his first break as a freelance news reporter covering the Arab Spring in an episode of Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom." Roles in independent features and episodic television like "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011-) were soon followed by appearances in features like "Message to the King" (2016), with Alfred Molina and Teresa Palmer, and his debut as screenwriter (with director Parisi Barani and actress Melissa Recalde) on the short film "Ablution" (2016), about a young conservative woman exploring her sexuality during the Tehran uprising of the 1980s. During this busy period, El Gamal also found time to play a major supporting role in "Prison Break," a revival of the popular action-drama series.