By: Yomna Walid&nbsp;
Never failing to surprise audiences with her performances, Egyptian actress Hana Ghoneim continues to leave a strong impression every time she appears on screen.
This Ramadan season, Ghoneim delivers a remarkable performance in the series &ldquo;Kan Ya Makan,&rdquo; starring Maged El Kedwany and Yosra El Lozy. She portrays Maya, a kind-hearted chef who finds herself in a toxic relationship after unknowingly falling in love with a married man. The character quickly became one of the most talked-about storylines in the series, which explores the emotional complexities of life after divorce.
But acting is only one side of Ghoneim&rsquo;s artistic journey. She is also an Egyptian singer and performing artist whose career path took an unexpected turn.
Although she initially began her career as an athlete specializing in the high jump and dreamed of representing Egypt at the Olympic Games, a severe foot injury during training ended her sporting ambitions. That turning point redirected her life toward the world of music and performing arts.
Before &ldquo;Kan Ya Makan,&rdquo; Ghoneim appeared in several television projects, including &ldquo;Tel3et Rohi,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wanesni,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Mystery Box.&rdquo;
In an exclusive interview with NileFM, Ghoneim opens about portraying Maya, navigating emotionally intense roles, and her new original music.
1. Your role as Maya in "Kan Ya Makan" is emotionally intense and complex. What made you say yes to this character from the beginning?
I loved Maya the minute I read the audition scenes. She&rsquo;s so full of life, so unapologetically herself, and she goes through life doing what she loves. She&rsquo;s driven by passion.
She kind of reminds me of me, or maybe the version of myself I aspire to be more like. When I read the full script, I fell even more in love with her motives and what drives her. She reminds me of the version of myself I want to be, someone who lives honestly, passionately, and fully.
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2. Maya goes through betrayal and emotional shock after discovering Seif&rsquo;s secret marriage. As a woman, how did you emotionally prepare yourself to portray that pain authentically?
When preparing a character, you must build their entire world, their morals, motives, intentions, and emotional logic. So, I had to understand Maya as a person first, and then draw from my own experiences as Hana, from different kinds of betrayals or emotional disappointments.
It&rsquo;s never easy to tap into those feelings, but unfortunately, these situations happen so often around us that you almost become familiar with the emotional landscape of it and how differently people react to betrayal.
Maya, to me, is the type of person who, when betrayed, would obviously be devastated, but at the same time would feel a responsibility to protect the other woman who is also a victim in the situation and warn her.
3. The series highlights toxic relationships. If Maya met someone like Seif in real life, what signs should she look for to recognize toxicity early?
Sometimes, unfortunately, it&rsquo;s almost impossible to detect early on. But I do believe it&rsquo;s always important in relationships to take things slow and steady. Really get to know the person before taking bigger steps.
You need to go through life situations together and observe how they act because actions always speak louder than words. Meet their friends as well, because that often gives you a mirror of the person&rsquo;s personality and values.
In Maya&rsquo;s case, the relationship was still quite new, and she had mostly spent time with Seif alone. In a way, it&rsquo;s good that she discovered the truth before things got even more serious between them.
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4. Many viewers expressed support and sympathy for Maya&rsquo;s journey. Why do you think the audience connected so strongly with her story?
I believe it&rsquo;s because she represents a big portion of girls. She&rsquo;s very relatable, just a sweet girl going about her life and falling for someone who is concealing the truth from her.
What was interesting, though, was that the audience was quite divided when it came to Maya&rsquo;s reaction. Some people really connected with her pain and supported her decision to warn her wife, especially considering the wife was pregnant and completely unaware.
But others called Maya a home wrecker simply for telling the wife the truth, even though Seif had already made it clear he wasn&rsquo;t ending things, even after finding out his wife was pregnant.
That reaction honestly shocked me a little bit. Blaming the victim woman instead of assigning responsibility to the actual perpetrator, which is Seif, is unfair. He alone is responsible for his actions.
I think this reaction reflects a larger societal issue, where, unfortunately, the woman is often blamed in relationship dynamics. &ldquo;She stole him,&rdquo; &ldquo;she seduced him,&rdquo; &ldquo;she told the wife because she wants him for herself.&rdquo; In Maya&rsquo;s case, none of that was true, but some people still chose to see it that way.
5. You moved from musical theatre to intense drama. What part of you had to grow up to carry a role like this?
Honestly, I believe art is art. Musical theatre can also be extremely emotionally intense; it&rsquo;s just expressed through a different medium.
So, for me, it wasn&rsquo;t about &ldquo;growing up&rdquo; as much as it was about expressing emotions differently. Of course, over the years I&rsquo;ve lived through experiences that gave me more perspective on life, and that naturally deepens you as an artist.
I&rsquo;ve matured as a person, and I think that maturity will reflect in whatever project I participate in, whether it&rsquo;s a musical or a drama series.
6. What were the biggest challenges you faced transitioning from musical theatre to television drama?
Just to give a bit of context, &ldquo;Kan Ya Makan&rdquo; isn&rsquo;t my first TV acting experience. I was previously cast in &ldquo;Tel3et Rohi,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wanesni,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Mystery Box,&rdquo; so I do have some experience with television.
Over the years, I&rsquo;ve also been consistently taking acting workshops, and I truly believe they have helped prepare me for projects like this. Every role teaches you something new, and I feel like with each project I&rsquo;m refining my tools a little more.
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7. The series tackles sensitive social issues such as marriage, divorce, family conflict, and the emotional impact on children. Which issue resonated with you the most personally, and why?
What resonated with me the most was the idea of how the actions of adults can deeply affect innocent people around them, especially children.
When relationships are built on lies, betrayal, or dishonesty, the damage rarely stays between just two people. It spreads outward and affects families and children who had nothing to do with the situation.
That ripple effect was something I found very powerful in the story, and it really stayed with me.
8. Working alongside Maged El Kedwany must have been a valuable experience. What did you learn from him on set?
Maged El Kedwany is honestly such a sweet and warm person. I truly loved him from the moment we started talking. He was very welcoming and encouraging of my participation, and he already knew that I sing and was complimenting me on that.
That kind of encouragement really gives you a boost of confidence as an artist, and it had a positive impact on my performance.
He&rsquo;s an example of an artist who is extremely grounded and down to earth, someone who clearly loves what he does and makes everyone around him feel seen and appreciated.
As an actor, he&rsquo;s incredibly disciplined, unbelievably talented, and very emotionally intelligent. He&rsquo;s very in tune with his emotions and aware of his surroundings, and I think that translates directly into the amazing actor we all know and admire.
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9. Many scenes in the series are emotionally heavy. How do you disconnect from the character after filming intense moments?
It can be emotionally draining sometimes. But I try to remind myself that once the director says &ldquo;cut,&rdquo; the character stays on set.
What helps a lot is the atmosphere behind the scenes. Between takes, we were always laughing, chatting, and keeping things light, which helped balance the heaviness of some scenes.
I think having that separation between you and the character is important; it can become overwhelming.
10. Behind the scenes, what was the atmosphere like among the cast? Do you have a memorable moment from filming that you can share?
It was so much fun! The crew was amazing, super supportive, very helpful, and just fun to be around. There was always a lot of laughter on set.
Many of the crew members were already fans of Locken products, which made me so happy. I started bringing them some of our newest launches for them to try, and it became a fun little tradition while we were filming.
11. After your debut in Ramadan drama, what type of roles are you hoping to explore next? And do you have any upcoming projects you can tell us about?
I&rsquo;m really hoping to get more opportunities in television and explore more complex, emotionally charged characters, especially characters that are very different from my own personality. I love the challenge of stepping into someone else&rsquo;s world completely.
Now, I&rsquo;m continuing to work on myself and strengthen my acting tools through workshops and training.
And on the music side, I&rsquo;m currently working on new original music that I&rsquo;m really excited about and hoping to release soon.
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Photo Credit: Yango Play's Official Page&nbsp;

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