Khaled Selim is Egypt’s homegrown star who does it all. Checking music and movies off his list, he now has fatherhood to take on. eniGma’s Radwa El Ziki talks to the multi-talented star about his success, future plans and his new baby…
Every time I’m asked to do an interview, I wonder how the celebrity is going to be like. Will he be modest?Will he impress me? Or will he be just another disappointment? When Khaled Selim walked in, I could tell that he was different from any other celebrity I interviewed. His eyes beamed with passion and he was instantly ready to follow all the directions our photographer bombarded him with. And he was actually enjoying it…
Selim was in his element; posing and moving around the studio as if he was born to all that. And maybe, just maybe, he really was born to do it. Ever since Selim was three years old, his parents realised there was something different about him. Even before he could make up proper sentences Selim could sing. And he sang his way through life. If he wanted something he’d sing to his parents till he got it.“Chocolates, holidays, whatever it is that I wanted I just sang to get it, and it usually worked,”he recounts. As Selim grew up, he continued singing his way to everything, fame, money, success…
Selim’s talent grew with him. He moved from Kuwait where he was born and raised and enrolled in the Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University. It was during his university years that Selim took his voice public. He jumped at every chance to perform at the university’s concerts. It was there that Selim gained his first fans. “Before attending, people used to ask if I was going to perform or not; if I wasn’t, they wouldn’t go,” he recalls
After graduation Selim decided to follow his passion and to dedicate his time and effortsto becoming a professional singer. Taking a big leap of faith, he produced his debut albumAlam Tani (From Another World). This is how Sameh Adel from Mirage Production Company got to know of him. The company helped him market and distribute his album and financed his first video. The video was a success and everyone was talking about this new hot singer. “People started asking, who is that daring man who dropped an album and is swimming with the dolphins?” he says. “The concept of the video was different, swimming with the dolphins, illustrates the alternate world,” Selim explains. And the rest, as they say, is history, the good kind of history that is.
Climbing the ladder of fame one step at a time, the next stride was a big one. Selim was asked by Director Tarek El Erian to sing the soundtrack of an upcoming movie, Al Sellem Well Teaban (Snakes and Ladders). Luckily for Selim the movie became a blockbuster and – along with the cast of the movie – Selim became a star.“This movie is very close to my heart. I didn’t know how people would respond to it but it gave me the exposure I needed,”he recalls.
From that point on, Selim was sought after as an actor as well as a singer. Offers to star in movies flooded in, but Selim was very reluctant to take that step. “I wanted to prove myself as a singer first and then take on acting,” he recalls.He eventually agreed to venture into acting when he fell in love with the script of Sana Oula Nassab (Primary One Con Job) starringheartthrob Ahmed Ezz.Selim decided that if he was going to do it, he had to do it right. “I took acting classes and was determined to take this seriously.”With this experience Selim realised he loved acting and he decided to pursue his career as both an actor and a singer
Nevertheless, Selim insists that he is first a singer then an actor. “Singing is my ultimate dream; it will always be.” So, fresh from the success of his debut blockbuster movie, Selim decided to take time off and focus on his music.A slew of hit albums followed:
Wala Laila Wala Youm (Not a Night or Day) in 2003, and Dah Ana (This Is Me), which debuted in 2010, and which Selim considered his favourite. “I sang in Arabic, English and Spanish! It was also my own production,” he affirms. His parts in successful movies like Layali and Sana Oula Nassab also booked him a place among Egypt’s stars.
Yet all the glitz and glam didn’t take him away from achieving his ultimate dream of raising a family. “One of my biggest dreams was to have a family of my own.With fame you become too busy pursuing success and forget your personal dream. Sometimes I’d lose track of time in the studio forgetting whether it was day or night,” Selim recalls. He was smart enough to take some time off to focus on getting married, which he did in 2011; and three months ago he welcomed his first born Khadija or “Dija” as he fondly calls her. “My life is more settled, more organised and more structured now, I never want to leave home as I find it very difficult to leave Dija behind. It’s an amazing feeling that I’ve never experiencedbefore,” Selim admits, with a blush.
In his free time – when he gets any – this father, singer and actor likes to exercise at the gym;enjoys sketching, taking pictures and listing to good music. “I love to listen to Fayrouz, She gives me hope that sophisticated music will live forever” adding that he attended a concert for her last year.“She is out of this world,” he exclaims. Selim is also a fan of American singer Brian McKnight and Egypt’s own King of Pop, Amr Diab. “I admire him a lot; and he preformed at my wedding,” Selim excitedly recalls.
So how does the popular singer deal with fame? The modest star tells us that he treats his fans with the utmost respect. “When a fan meets me I like to make it worth his while.” He wants to give back to the people who respect and appreciate him. As for his success in the public eye, Selim owes it to his own theory on being under the spotlight. “If you have something new to talk about, go out and do so, but if you don’t then just stay quiet,” Selim recommends. He also believes that celebrities should steer clear from politics, sports, or basically anything that has two sides.
So what’s next?
Next Ramadan, Selim anticipates the airing of his firstever TV series. He is excited that it is starring famous actress Ghada Abdel Razik. “I was very excited to work with her; she has proven to be one of the best actresses in the Arab world.” Another major movie is also in the works, but Selim is very hush hush about it. “Let’s just see how it goes,” Selim teases. The multi-talented star also has an upcoming album in the making.
With a sucessful career, a wonderful new family and upcoming plans, I had to ask Selim if there was anything he regretted throughout his life. “I sometimes gave my trust to people who didn’t deserve it,” he admits with a smile and a blissful laugh. “But people live and learn. This is life.”
ART DIRECTION & STYLING: Yasmin Reda
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ahmed Mobarez
Enigma Magazine