Jay Abdo is a Syrian actor and human rights activist, who has featured in various films and television shows in the Middle East and Hollywood. Jay left Syria due to the numerous threats he received after voicing his stance against the Assad government to the Los Angeles Times on a trip to Beirut. After moving to the United States, he continued to pursue his acting career in Los Angeles, featuring in films like Queen of the Desert and A Hologram for the King.
CJLPA: Welcome Mr. Jay Abdo and thank you for taking the time to speak with us about your story and the necessary topics regarding Syria. You spent most of your life in Syria and you are one of the biggest movie stars in the Middle East. Can you please describe your childhood in Syria before the Civil War?
Jay Abdo: Thank you so much for this opportunity. I am a big fan of The Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art and I appreciate that you are giving me this opportunity to give people in the West, or let’s say in the free world, more information so they can have a better understanding of where all this chaos is coming from. I was born in 1962 in Damascus, the Old City. My father was from the countryside while my mother was born in the city of Hama to an Albanian father and an Armenian mother. Syria is a mixing pot of many nationalities, and historically, many Albanians and Armenians sought refuge in Syria. Growing up I had a normal Syrian childhood. My father was an Arabic teacher, and in 1967, he was appointed to a position in Golan Heights. When the war started, Hafez al-Assad sold Golan Heights to stay in power—an under the table agreement—and just like that, we had to flee. There was no war, there was no shooting. Golan Heights just was simply given.
CJLPA: Golan Heights became part of Israel overnight?
JA: Yes, it became Israel overnight and we had to flee rapidly. There was an order on the radio that said the Israeli army had invaded and there were no soldiers to protect us in Al Quneitra, so we left for Damascus to live with my grandparents. That was in 1967 and by 1970, Assad, who was a Minister of Defence, took power through a military coup. I remember asking as a child, ‘Is he a good guy’, and people did not respond because they were in shock. From that day I remember Syria deteriorating.
We were always preparing for war, we were ruled by a mafia regime, and many people were taken to prison. Assad started by imprisoning and killing his inner circle, and from there, Syria adopted a political culture similar to North Korea, praising figures like Kim Il Sung and Stalin. I still remember them saying on the radio, ‘Our allies, the Koreans, the Russians, and the Eastern Germans…’
I grew up within this culture, but when I was five, I joined a music school. My mother always wanted me to become an artist, either playing the guitar, violin, piano, dancing, or anything. I was very lucky to have a well-informed family—a family who read and listened to classical music—and all of this influenced me. Every Friday, I went to the Al-Kindi cinema to watch children’s movies that were from around the world, and it inspired me. I was also taught English before school by my uncle who was a flight attendant with British Airways and the Swedish SAS. He had a very good British accent, and he taught me very well. So, as a child, I was exposed to Western culture through my family, while at school, we were to be more like the Koreans—fighters who were loyal. The school was not interested in your individuality, they were scared of it.
I was a little bit different from my peers. When I went to the village, I was the guy with the European American mentality and it felt as though I was swimming in an environment that was not fit for me. That is until I finished high school and I got a scholarship to go study in Romania.
CJLPA: I want to touch on you feeling different than everyone else. Similar to you, my mother, who is Syrian, was raised very open-minded and was exposed to things like Michael Jackson’s CDs and Nintendo gaming sets. However, not everyone in Syria gets this. Do you think that before the internet many Syrians were out of date with what was going on in the world?
JA: Financially, it wasn’t easy for a Syrian to travel, but those who could afford to go to the Gulf to make money. Around 75% of people who left Syria went to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, and Jordan to make some money. Around 3% of the Syrian population went to the Western world, which was more inaccessible because we grew up in a country that was under a Russian mandate. Going to the United States, Germany, England, and France was a big challenge, and no one encouraged you to travel there because you couldn’t afford it. Syrians can barely manage to live. It’s an okay financial situation, but not ideal.
CJLPA: Where would you say your love for films came from? You spoke a little about your exposure to the West and how that impacted you, but were you also influenced by the Arab region? I know Syria and Egypt are major powerhouses of entertainment in the Arab world. Were there any people in the Arab community that you looked up to and how did your career in acting begin?
JA: I did watch some Syrian shows like Ghawar by Duraid Lahham. I watched Nihad Kalai, Muna Wassef, and Hani Al–Romani, all those big names and the founders of the first productions. I was watching with much love and appreciation, but at the same time, I was watching Western cinema. In Syria there used to be Italian cinema week, Swedish cinema week, French cinema week, etc. I did not skip one. At times I was the only one in the audience and they had a very powerful influence on me. I was enjoying the Syrian productions, but I was learning from the Europeans. Now, I pay attention to what I was getting from each one.
CJLPA: Many young actors, directors, and filmmakers get exploited early in their careers and not many people speak of the exploitation and the problems associated with acting. Did you experience this early in your career?
JA: I studied acting for four years and I was a promising student. Directors and producers would come to our shows because they wanted to pick stars for their productions. When I graduated, we didn’t have agencies and managers to represent us—we represent ourselves. We had to fight, argue, and bargain on our own behalf, and if we got into trouble or someone harassed us, we only had the Union to protect us, and the Union was a police officer. The Artists Union is comprised of police officers ready to report you to the security apparatus. They do not protect you because there are other actors and directors there looking out for their best interest and the police do not want to get fired by the studios or production companies. Moreover, those production companies are owned by the mafia—either the president’s father, brother, or cousin—so you don’t want to pick a fight with them. One of the biggest companies was Sham Production, owned by Abdul Halim Khaddam’s son, the youngest son of Abdul Halim, the Vice President of Hafez al-Assad. Thus, the film industry was about power, and unless you became a powerful name, you faced many challenges. A major challenge that I and many men faced was that I was underpaid, whereas some women had to provide sexual favours to get roles.
CJLPA: It looks as though, in Syria, actors, athletes or anyone in the public eye is asked by the government to put in a good word for them—make the President look good. I also understand that when the 2011 protests began, you were approached by the government to speak in favour of the state. Can you tell me about the power of state propaganda in Syria and how they usually conscript public figures?
JA: The uprising started in Tunisia and eventually reached Syria, and during this time people started taking to the streets. The regime responded with horrific violence to eliminate any hope and prevent any Western media from coming in. It was the same with Arabic media, like Al Jazeera, or Al Arabiya, where no one was allowed to get in without permission. And in truth, when you start to become famous, the government begins to spoil you with invitations, dinners, celebrations, and awards. Then when you are interviewed on national TV and you are asked your opinion on talk shows, there is a mention about how good our president is, how good our country is, and how well we are doing. You are getting all this attention from people in power and then a moment comes when you are asked to return the favour.
When the uprising started and the government started killing, arresting, and torturing people, the government started to ask celebrities to appear on TV or join a march. I was asked to join a two-kilometre march where I would walk with photos of the President and positive slogans about our country. Some of these slogans were cursing the international media, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, etc. I did not join, and the government knew. Some celebrities joined because, in the past, the government had helped to push their career. Some volunteered because they were given houses, access, and priority, but I was approached three times by people I worked with, and I was scared to death to even sign a petition to bring milk to children.
CJLPA: The start of that civil war that was the beginning of the spread of social media within Syria. Could you please touch on the impact that social media had on the protests?
JA: Originally, Facebook was banned in Syria, but after a month of mostly peaceful protests, Facebook as a way to show that the government could reform to the people’s needs. It was all over the TV, ‘Facebook is open, Facebook is open’, but in truth, they opened Facebook because they wanted to track activists. The government went on Facebook, saw where activists were located, and arrested them the next morning. It was easy for them. So, I don’t trust this regime at all—if they are doing anything for the people, it is for a mean purpose, never a good one.
CJLPA: This is the first time I have heard this perspective. Most people describe the use of social media in Syria as a tool that motivated the protests, not a tool that the government could use to catch you. Thank you for that perspective. Moreover, you eventually decided to speak out against the government when you were on a trip to Beirut and spoke with the Los Angeles Times. What led you to do this?
JA: Actually, it wasn’t a trip to Beirut, I went to Beirut specifically to meet with her [the LA Times journalist]. It was premeditated and well-organised. When the uprising started, I was always fighting with my wife, who has a big mouth and big heart, and who always wanted me to use my fame and stardom for good. I was always scared, and I told her that this regime is not a joke, but she said, ‘You are a celebrity, and they will count to ten before doing you any harm’.
Before the uprising, my wife applied for two scholarships, the Chevening in England, and the Fulbright in the United States. After the uprising, she had an interview in the US and I was left alone. I felt like I wanted to do something but at the same time, I was so scared—mostly scared to lose my wife. She, however, was very positive that we artists, famous people, and celebrities have to step in and do something. So, this American journalist, Ellen, found me on a website for international actors and she sent me an email saying she was interested in an interview, and I said, ‘This is the time’. I want to prove to myself that I’m not scared. If you hit, you have to hit on the head and address the international media, and I said, ‘Who is better than the Los Angeles Times?’ So, I said, yes to the interview. Ellen was not allowed in the country, so I drove to Beirut to meet with her, and I was very scared.
Meeting with any American would be a target on your back, and Ellen was doing her best to write the article in a way that didn’t harm me. She was interested in the freedom of speech in the entertainment scripts. When she asked me about the situation on the ground, I got so scared. There was a recorder in front of us and I remember looking at the recorder and not being able to move my lips. I just signalled for her to turn it off, and once she did, I spoke up. I said everything I wanted.
She wrote the article in a way that didn’t seem like I was criticising the regime, but I was criticising, and my full name was there. Anyhow, I drove back to Damascus and when my wife found out about the article, she said it was very bold, to meet with an American journalist in Beirut to accuse the security apparatus of torture in the country. That’s when the security apparatus started to call me. I got so many phone calls asking that I appear on TV and say sorry to the people, praise Mr. President by name, and give my thanks to the army. The article was a very big step for me. I didn’t march because I was honestly scared to be shot, but I think for a celebrity to give his voice on a platform like the Los Angeles Times was bigger than marching. And I remember asking my wife, ‘Who’s going to read it, it’s in English?’ Everybody read it.
CJLPA: Was it after those continuous phone calls that you decided to head to the United States?
JA: My wife told me I had to disappear for a while and initially I said no, but the government started arresting my friends who were celebrities, so I said, ‘Wow, let me disappear for a while’. I could do this because my wife went to the US to study for a one-year programme, but I did not want to leave because it would be a detriment to my career. However, other celebrities left ahead of me, either to Lebanon, France, Egypt, or Dubai, and my wife told me that once she graduated, we would go back to a different Syria, with democracy and prosperity. So, I left.
Everything in America was different. In Syria, because I was a star, I was a little bit entitled. I could knock at any door and ask for whatever favour, but in America, nobody knew about me. No one looked at me and that was a huge transition, from being someone to being just a number. Moreover, I was getting bad news every day from our country—this friend got arrested, this friend is missing, this city was bombed, these snipers are killing people—all bad news. I was getting so many death threats on a daily basis, and we figured that there was no more home for us in Syria. So, you find yourself trapped in a beautiful country, but you don’t want to be there. I found myself in a different country, learning things in my 50s that Americans learned when they were 12. I had to look for a job in a new country, which was very difficult. I didn’t know about the food, because in the Middle East, we don’t have mass producers of milk, meat, eggs, etc., and we didn’t know the amount of pesticides, hormones, GMOs, and high fructose corn syrup in foods. I would eat the pizza and immediately I have rashes and acne. I didn’t know how to talk to people or how to introduce myself. All of these new cultural aspects, I had to catch up on. But most of all, I was so scared for my parents. I didn’t want them to be killed, and at that time it was easy for the regime to kill anyone in Syria. They had no remorse.
CJLPA: You were talking about getting a job was difficult for you in the beginning. Now that you have worked with Nicole Kidman on Queen of the Desert and with Tom Hanks in A Hologram for the King, can you tell me what the differences are between Syrian cinema and American cinema? How did you adapt and begin to adopt American cinema?
JA: There is a big difference between the script in Syria and the script in the US. First, in the US, you are addressing the whole world and there is more freedom to speak about any subject. We have restrictions and red lines in the Syrian scripts. We can’t talk about religion, the army, politics, or sex. Second, in the US, you have a manager, you have a union to protect you, and there are laws that protect everyone working in the field. Third, almost everyone working on set, especially the crew, is an academic. This cameraman has studied filming, that art designer is an academic, but in Syria, we struggled to find people who could operate a camera. Fourth, everything in a US production is organised and prepared ahead of time—safety is a must. We don’t have safety in the Syrian productions. And finally, you are paid well in the US. Your grants are there, your rights are protected, and there is someone to negotiate for you. When you get on set, you can relax.
CJLPA: Speaking of American cinema, what do you think about the current writers' strikes?
JA: It is very unfair what they’re paying writers because they are the creators. Some writers are paid $700 for an episode, that’s it. It’s disgusting. The big studios make billions every year, and some CEOs have a $25 million salary. Writers are spending 12 hours on set, so pay them! Like we say in Arabic, ‘From the whole camel, we are asking for the ear’.
CJLPA: In your opinion, where did the revolution go wrong? It does not look like Bashar al-Assad is going to be leaving anytime soon and it does not look like the revolution unionised the way it should have for it to have been successful. Where do you think we went wrong?
JA: There are so many different reasons. When the revolution first started and people took to the streets, walking peacefully as they asked for universal human rights, the regime responded with horrific violence. So many officers and soldiers started to defect because when they were asked to shoot at protesters, they could not do it. They started taking the side of the rebels, and that is when the money started pouring in from the Gulf countries because they wanted to support those people who defected. Their support, however, was not for free. They had a religious agenda. Moreover, after the Iraq War, those who returned were imprisoned inside Sednaya and other prisons, and they created Islamic extremist groups. Five months after our uprising, many of the imprisoned were released and they started forming religious groups that dominated our revolution. That is where our revolution went wrong. The aid was going to the extremists, not to the moderates. The moderates had to flee to Turkey, Jordan, or Lebanon.
There is a very good and important documentary that was made about all this called, Hell on Earth, the Fall of Syria, and the Rise of ISIS. It answers so many questions, especially for Western countries, and I recommend it to everyone.
CJLPA: Can you please touch a bit more on how the government manufactures their image to make it seem as though they are fighting terrorism when in reality, they are probably manufacturing it?
JA: Extremism was created by the Gulf countries, by the leaders of those countries. They use it as a scarecrow to say, ‘Look at us, we are legit because we are fighting the extremism that you are afraid of’, but they created the extremism. They just don’t say that out loud. It is a filthy game because they are always saying, ‘We are fighting extremism’, but it is the regime that created it, and people make excuses because Bashar al-Assad went to London to study and his wife is British—he does not look like a tyrant. But he is, and what I need people to know is that the monster is our regime—the mafia in our regime. This is the real monster that keeps refugees and displaced people afraid of returning to Syria. Millions want to go back, but they can’t with Assad being there.
CJLPA: This war has resulted in a large Syrian diaspora. What is your advice to the younger generation of Syrians who have grown up in the war, grown up having to escape the war, or have even grown up never seeing Syria but wanting to see it? How do you speak about the future for young Syrians and how they can make a change in their country?
JA: Don’t give up. It’s hard for all of us. It’s very hard, but never give up. Study, read, work, don’t relax. It is time for work. We are in a disaster mode and it’s time to work. I wake up every morning at four am because I have projects to work on. Work, study, read and learn from those countries you are in. Exchange. Tell them about your life, about your country, what is beautiful in our culture, and learn from their cultures. Build bridges within the countries you live in. Don’t be scared. This is how we fight back.
We have to be prepared for the day when we can go back to our country. So, get up. No time for depression, no time for complaining. It’s time for work, for study and for more knowledge. We have to beat them with knowledge, music, and art. This is my message. I wish I could help every human being in the diaspora and inspire them. I was depressed, my wife was depressed, and we both suffered a lot, but we helped each other. We inspired each other and we stood for each other. Nowadays, I say that if you have a love in your life, fight for it. This is what keeps us alive, strong, and resistant.
CJLPA: Thank you, those are beautiful words. It was a great interview that touched on various subjects, and it was wonderful having you.
JA: Thank you, so much, and best wishes to everyone working with you on this Journal. We are very proud of it.
This interview was conducted by Nour Kachi, Legal Researcher CJLPA: The Human Agenda. In addition to his role at CJLPA, Nour is currently working on qualifying as a lawyer in the US and UK.
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