Elias Zayek meets me in Downtown Beirut to grab coffee. He's friendly and personable, immediately comfortable, acting more like he is catching up with an old friend than meeting a stranger to do an interview.
Sure, Zayek is still a rising star in Lebanon and perhaps the fame hasn't gotten to him yet, or perhaps he's not the type to let it. Regardless, he is definitely making a name for himself, having won Best Rising Talent by Murex D'or last year for his performance in the film "Neswen," for which he also won Best Lebanese Actor from the Lebanese Cinema Movie Guide Awards.
More recently, Zayek finished up a leading role in the hit LBCI series "Sawa" and just this Ramadan, he acted in the Syrian-produced MTV drama series "Sarkhet Rouh." Considering he is just 25, Zayek's accomplishments are definitely not minor, however he remains modest with ambitions that stretch beyond Lebanon.
Talking about his experience with "Sawa," Zayek says he greatly values the experience it gave him but explains its not where his passion lies.
"For the time being I do that, but in parallel, I take a lot of short films. People, Europeans or Americans, foreigners that come here, directors that want to do a film, people tell them about me and I do my best to take those kind of independent films, whether they're feature films or short films," he explains.
"I really indulge myself in working so hard in every character that is given to me in those films, more than I put effort into a TV show, honestly."
Having graduated from the world-renowned Stellar Adler Academy of Acting and Theater in Los Angeles (which boasts alumni such as Salma Hayek, Robert DeNiro and Benicio Del Toro), Zayek got his start with short films and student productions. He dreams of one day breaking into Hollywood but recognizes that for now, he has a better shot of developing his career in Lebanon.
"I always thought, here I'm a fish in an aquarium and there I'm a fish in an ocean," he points out.
Zayek also sees his experience in Lebanon as developing him further as an actor, pointing out that it's a constant process.
"I'm on the way, I'm trying to become an actor," he tells me. "Getting the emotion from the inside, working as an actor, just needs a lot of time and work."
And Zayek is definitely willing to work at the process, telling me that he would do whatever it takes for the right role, whether that be moving somewhere abroad or even learning a language. To him, its all about the art of acting. That's the passion that drives him.
Still, Zayek remains humble about his growing fame, noticeably embarrassed to talk about his ever-increasing fan base.
"I always feel uncomfortable talking about that, because I feel its stupid. Not stupid from their side, they always see it as something huge and big," he says awkwardly. "They did put an Elias Zayek fan page on Instagram and they did all of that. But I just feel very awkward answering questions like that because I just feel stupid saying 'Yeah, my fans they're all over the place.'"
However, whether he wants to talk about it or not, Zayek is definitely getting noticed by fans throughout Lebanon. With a couple popular TV series under his belt as well as his award winning performance in "Neswen," Zayek's career is only looking up.