Said Elassal

Full Name Said Abdel Moneim Abdel Gawad Morsi El Assal Born on September 16 1962 in Shubra Cairo Egypt He is the eldest among his siblings His father Abdel Moneim Abdel Gawad was one of the biggest traders of truck spare parts in Egypt He had a weak physique in his childhood so his father sought the help of Dr Sayed El Gendy to build his strength From a young age he managed his fathers shops and warehouses and traveled abroad to import spare parts He began practicing martial arts and selfdefense at the age of 11 While in Italy with his father to resolve an issue with a shipping company he joined a local sports club After returning to Cairo he trained for 4 years and then joined the Egyptian National Karate Team He traveled with the team to the United States for a world championship and then returned to his normal life as a spare parts trader and a martial arts trainer on his days off His close childhood friend was Hussein El Seify an civil aviation engineer whose brother Adel El Seify was a still photographer in Egyptian cinema Through Adel he learned that actor Hassan Youssef had opened an office on Emad El Din Street to train young talents for acting His first role was a small part as a bodyguard in the film Aman Ya Donya 1991 but his scenes were cut to less than 20 seconds upon release so he decided to step away from acting Later he was called back as a fight choreographer with small acting roles Years later he starred in a leading role in an Italian film as a strong Arab man skilled in horse riding and after returning to Egypt he began playing supporting roles in Arab films