When you have been working in Hollywood for more than two decades, as Ahmed Ahmed has, you are bound to strike up some great friendships and work along-side a few living legends and rising stars. Here is what Ahmed says about some of the big names he has worked with.
Roseanne
“I worked with her only for a small scene in her show [Roseanne]. I was a terrorist and she was on a train going somewhere. I try to attack her and she grabs an eggbeater and shoves it in my beard and starts twisting it. My line was: ‘No, not the beard. I need it, I have no chin.’ Then the director went ‘cut’ and she just looked at me and said: ‘You are funny,’ and she walked away.”
Vince Vaughn
“He is my friend and my mentor. He came to watch me do comedy back in the days when I sucked. He is one of those guys that is very objective and he tells it to you as it is. He doesn’t just pat you on the back –he tells you that you did great when you really do something great, or he will say you need to do work.”
Halle Berry
“Most of my screen-time in Executive Decision was with her. She is a sweetheart and I had a very big crush on her. At one point, in between the scenes, she came up to me and said: ‘You really look like a terrorist. You really look so mean.’”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
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