Kal Naga (Khaled Abol Naga) was born in Heliopolis, a cosmopolitan neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt. His father, the late Egyptian army major General Mohamed-Sami Aboul-Naga (Arabic: اللواء أ.ح / محمد سامى السيد أبوالنجا), came from a traditional family of major land owners in ad-Daqahliyah, Aga, Egypt that was mostly confiscated during the Nasser revolution of 1952 and its Land reform in Egypt. His mother revealed in 2013 that he is a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Fatima Az-Zahraa and Imam Husayn ibn Ali son of Ali ibn Abi Talib. He is the younger brother of American-based Egyptian Architect Tarek Naga, and Architect Seif Abol Naga, who appeared in the classic film Empire M.
Naga's acting career began in 1977 when he was still a child with a part in Egyptian film Madness of Love (Arabic: جنون الحب) (aka: Genoun El Hob) (aka: La Folie De L'amore). Since then he has appeared in a variety of films including psychological thrillers, romances and musical comedies.
During his childhood, Khaled Abol Naga spent much time with his elder brother, Tarek, whom he has said served as a major influence on his character growing up. Khaled was naturally interested in acting at an early age, and appeared in a film (Madness of Love) starring Naglaa-Fathy at the age of 9. He attended St. George's College school for his primary education, graduated with highest honors as an Engineer of electrical telecommunications from the renowned Ain Shams University Faculty of Engineering (ASUFE) and American University in Cairo. He studied Computer Science with a minor in Theater and Drama. He played water polo for his varsity team while based in Europe (1986–9), worked as a model (1993–6), and was a late-night talk show host and radio presenter in the late 1990s.
Naga's theatre work started in 1989 with his university plays at The Department of Theatre, Drama and Music of the American university in Cairo, his work as a theatrical actor included a variety of roles; in some instances like Mahfouz-yat (1990) and Two Underground (1994) he has played more than one role in a single production, He collected few awards as an actor and Director of varsity plays.
He joined the theatre department at the American University in Cairo, where he had the opportunity to discover his acting talent in the University's drama productions. In 1997 he left to the United States for more independent studies of his passion, filmmaking. There he studied film acting, cinematography and directing. He cited his acting Teacher Dr Mahmoud Al Lozy as a his mentor who has influenced him the most.
As a TV host, Abol Naga from 1999, was offered several opportunities to host different television programs at the variety channel of the Nile TV Network of ERTU. In 2000 he was awarded Best New TV Announcer (Egypt). He was later chosen to host the popular Good Morning Egypt TV show of ERTU, which he presented until 2001. He hosted a popular live talk show Eshar Ma'ana (translates: Spend the night with us). After leaving Nile Variety channel in 2000, he hosted Muzikana TV show about the Arab music top charts for MBC TV which brought him recognition across Arabic speaking states.
In 2001 his film career gained momentum when he was chosen by Director Daoud Abdel Sayed for the lead in A Citizen, An Informant And A Thief (Mowaten we Mokhber we Haramy) (Arabic: مواطن و مخبر و حرامي ). In 2002 he demonstrated his talent for singing in the musical comedy Wust El-Balad ("Downtown"). He was then offered a part in "Sleepless Nights" (aka: "Sahar El Layali") which became a box office hit in 2003–2004. Later in the same year Abol Naga was awarded Best Actor at the Damascus International Film Festival and the Best Actor Award from the Paris Arab Cinema Biennale of the Institute du Monde Arabe IMA Film Festival.
As an actor, Naga has performed in several ERTU radio productions (Ramadan seasons) as a voice actor. In 2003 he played a main role among an all star cast as Sherif in Ahlam El Sabaya (translates: The Girl's Dreams) directed by Hosny Ghoneim. The following year he performed in the romantic comedy radio drama Back to Love (directed by Hessein Ibrahim) (2004) as the lead Tarek.
Naga has won a multitude of awards as an actor specially in the years 2004 for Sleepless Nights, and 2014 for Villa 69 and Eyes of a Thief. and as a Producer in 2013–2014 for Villa 69 and in 2010–2011 for Microphone, a film that is considered a classic and one of the few independent films that is listed as one of the 100 greatest films in the history of Arab cinema.
In 2005 Naga joined the Make Poverty History campaign.
In 2006 he appeared as the lead in Leabet el hob (The Game of Love) – for which he received Best Actor at the Alexandra International Film Festival. He also appeared in Tamer El-Bustani's independent short film: Qutat Baladi (Stray Cats). In the same year he was introduced to English speaking audiences in the role of Gabe Hassan in the American/Canadian production Civic Duty, It premiered at Tribecca film Festival in New york, and nominated at the Cairo International Film Festival 2007, his performance created a lot of attention to his talent and since then was often described by media as the next Omar Sharif.
Khaled Abol Naga has a been appointed as a jury member or head of jury in numerous local or international film festivals since 2008, here are some of his appointments:
In late January 2011 he participated in the Egyptian Uprising in Tahrir Square, having been a signatory to Mohamed ElBaradei's manifesto for political reform, Together for Change on March 28, 2010 with other film makers and Directors. While in Tahrir, he took live footage, photographs and recorded audio casts which were later uploaded to the internet. He was interviewed several times in English, once by Ayman Mohyeldin of Al Jazeera, and several times by the BBC regarding the protests. Al-Ahram Weekly later reported that he was involved in an altercation with plain clothes police in which he was assaulted and then deleted the news! He reported that he has an ongoing lifetime project working on collating his footage and photographs of the uprising in Tahrir Square 2011, documenting the massive protests against President Morsi of the Muslim brotherhood in November 2012, the military coup in 2013 and ongoing.
In the wake of January 1 2011 Alexandria bombing Abol Naga visited the victims and survivors in hospitals, and lead candle lit vigils denouncing violence against copts and to promote religious tolerance in Egypt. On January 10 he organised and hosted the "Microphone for Alexandria" concert with Musicians who had appeared in Microphone (2010). The concert aimed to raise funds for the victims and promote solidarity between Christian and Muslim Egyptians.
In September 2013, in a unique stage play reading in Arabic; Cancelled, Khaled Abol Naga seamlessly takes on the lead role of Hassan, the Director, and does a perfect and utterly hilarious impersonation of the talented, kind hearted and easily irritated director-professor who loves his students, but constantly criticising them and the entire generation to which they belong, In this rough form of a play Abol Naga's theatrical capabilities shined.
Naga achieved a historical winning of all important Best Actor Awards offered in Egypt in 2014(Egypt's National Film Festival, Film Society Festival for Egyptian Cinema, The Catholic Centre festival for Egyptian Cinema) for his role in "Villa 69" as well as winning The Best Actor award (SILVER PYRAMID) from The prestigious Cairo International Film Festival for his role in the Palestinian submission to the OSCAR's "Eyes of a thief" among other regional Best Actor awards, in the same year, he also won several regional awards for his incredible portrayal of an older man Hussein in "Villa 69" including the Best Actor Award from Festival du Cinema Africain Khouribga, Morocco (Khaled is the Lead Actor & Executive-Producer)
In September 2015, a unique musical opened at The Royal Cultural Centre of Amman, Jordan, He directed the first ever Arabic transportation of acclaimed West End musical Oliver!. His unique and original adaptation swaps Dickensian London to a contemporary Arab city (Amman in the Jordan production), He created together with the well known Disney Writer Zeinab Mobarak an adaptation that smartly kept the original Charles Dickens spirit and transported all the original songs and lyrics to the contemporary Arab culture, Maestro Nayer Nagui conducted the orchestra and coached the children singing marathon lessons which was held in Jordan mostly with Syrian refugee children.
In 2016, he focused more on the English speaking markets as he appeared in an American Fox TV production (Tyrant season 3) in a main role of an Islamic cleric sheikh AL-Qadi – (a recurring guest star in 10/10 episodes), then he was announced to appear in several top TV shows as the Emir of Kairawan: Ziyadat-Allah – (a guest star role in 2 episodes) of the History channel hit TV show, Vikings (season 5) airing in Canada in 2017, as well as a BBC TV mini series in a guest recurring role, The Informant – (in 6/6 episodes) of The Last Post (TV mini series).
