Ramy Youssef

In Poor Things (2023), Ramy Youssef’s McCandles is hired to keep notes on Bella Baxter’s progress. Yorgos Lanthimos places him beside Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe in a household that requires an actor to accept its oddness without fuss. Youssef fits its peculiar tone without trying to make the supporting part larger than it is. We value that restraint in a film whose eagerness to please eventually becomes wearing, even if it leaves us with a limited sense of what he can do.

The clearer expression of his interests is Ramy (2019–2022), which he created, wrote, directed and starred in. Its flawed, self-questioning Muslim-American characters are allowed to fall short of their own religious and family expectations; there is no duty to make them exemplary. The series was his breakthrough; co-creating and writing Mo (2022) with Mo Amer extended his work in culturally specific comedy. The appeal is his willingness to let people mean well without using that as an excuse for what they do.

The Bear (2022) gives him a different task: directing within an established ensemble and tone. He directed the Copenhagen-set episode “Honeydew”, and his patient approach to character suits a programme whose workplace pressure can become punishing. We were exhausted by the series’ relentless kitchen friction, though its persuasive ensemble kept us watching. That reservation belongs to the programme as a whole, rather than to his episode. His collaboration with Christopher Storer also includes stand-up specials.

Wish (2023) offers much less to work with. As the voice of Safi, one of Asha’s seven friends, Youssef is part of a supporting cast the writing barely distinguishes; only Harvey Guillén’s grumbling Gabo makes much impression. We would not dismiss his comic abilities on the evidence of a part this thin. Start with Ramy if the supporting roles have left you wondering what he would do with more say.