DUBAI: In Apple TV’s new hit international series “Hijack,” starring Idris Elba, we open to a familiar sight: a man rushes through Dubai Airport, late for an important flight. This being a Western production, you might expect, when the Emirati character appears, to see another foreign artist with no knowledge of Gulf culture collapse into frame, the perverted ghutra. Instead, something remarkable happened: Emirati actor Mohammed Faisal Mustafa calmly and confidently walked the screen, and a star was born.

“I am still very humbled by this opportunity,” Mostafa told Arab News. This is the first time in history that an Emirati actor plays a major role in an international series, in a huge story told on a global scale. Now it’s number one, and it’s getting great reviews! I can’t stop thinking about how amazing this experience was. I hope to make everyone in the region proud to be representing them.”

The thriller, which airs weekly, is currently the #8 Apple premiere and series #8 worldwide across all platforms. Irresistible Structure: A plane traveling from Dubai to London has been hijacked, and no one knows except the people on board. Told over seven episodes as the seven-hour journey unfolds in real time, the mystery of how this unlikely situation came to be begins to unfold as the characters struggle to figure out how they are going to survive, and who they can trust.

Mustafa plays Abdullah, an air traffic controller who is the only person on the ground who thinks something isn’t right. He begins to investigate himself, looking for a missing employee, who inadvertently became embroiled in a dark conspiracy. Mustafa’s character was well received worldwide, with the actor receiving an outpouring of love from new fans.

“People keep telling me that every time he’s on screen, you don’t want him out. They love following the journey of this guy, a guy who’s just trying to do the right thing,” Mostafa says.

While this was Mustafa’s first taste of international fame, he was, in his words, acting “ever since (he) could speak properly”. While he now works primarily as the founder and CEO of a digital transformation company, works for his family’s 100-year-old company, is the director of investor relations for a private equity firm based in Silicon Valley (if that wasn’t enough, he also teaches yoga), and is Also the younger brother of the leading Emirati film director, Ali Mustafa.

Ali wanted to be a filmmaker since he was a child, before he could even hold a camera. He started doing shorts with action figures, and once he could handle the camera, he moved on to his brothers. This is where I learned – I never went to drama school, never rehearsed, I just got better because I wanted to help my brother achieve his dreams,” Mustafa says.

As a child, Mustafa’s dream was not to act, but to play football. Unlike most children who started out with this ambition, Mustafa has already achieved it, as he played professionally with Al Ain Football Club and Al Wasl Football Club, two of the biggest teams in the UAE Professional League, and even experimented with Premier League teams.

“I gave my all, but football was made for me. I had three head fractures, and I needed to find somewhere else to thrive,” he says. “And being on set is where I’ve always felt most in my element besides the court.”

Over the years, Mustafa has continued to act here and there. He appeared in his older brother’s films “City of Life” (2009) and “From A to B” (2014), before landing a lead role in Ali’s third film, “The Worthy” (2016). The latter, a post-apocalyptic horror film, was a particularly difficult shoot over three intense months in rural Romania, a challenge the younger Mustafa showed.

“I had to audition for the part, and I loved it, because I knew I’d got my place. It’s funny, because when we started, I could still sense a certain vibe from the rest of the cast and crew, where they assumed I was there just because my brother He was the director. I knew I had to prove myself in some scenes, and I gave my all, even doing some very interesting stunts. After that, everyone looked at me differently – they knew I deserved it,” Mustafa says with a smile.

After being cast in the UAE’s first real film, the war film “The Ambush” (2021), for which he went to the military training camp with the rest of the cast to fully immerse himself in the role, Mustafa signed with an agent in the UK, I’m not sure what If there is any chance it will come at all. It turns out that the first call he got shortly after was for “Hijack”.

“The day I was first due to go, I was staying at a friend’s house. After the driver came to take me to the set, I spent the whole trip wondering at my ability. I was very nervous. But right away, I was treated as an equal with all These experienced actors: “No one looked at me like I didn’t belong,” Mostafa says.

“The scenes started to fly, and director Jim Field Smith was so supportive. He made me feel so comfortable. I was even able to show them how Emiratis hold hands while greeting people and other little details that helped give the authenticity,” Mustafa continues.

Looking back, Mustafa now realizes why he loves that feeling – being in front of the camera is just like being on the field during a big game; All this pressure is focused on him. “There are nerves, but they are nice nerves—the nerves that keep you inside,” he says.

As Mustafa looks to the future, excited about the roles that could come, both regionally and in Hollywood, the moment he was thinking the most, the moment that fuels him as he approaches a bright future, came at the premiere, when Idris Elba came to embrace him.

Idris said: Muhammad, you have done a good job in it. You did a great job.’ I just told him how grateful I am for the opportunity. It was a pleasure. It was hard to wait for this to be released, because I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of something of this magnitude, representing the UAE,” Mustafa says.