‘I’m freer than ever’: For Waterloo Road star Adam Ali, acting is a form of activism
The Waterloo Road actor is a shining star of Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley - and leads The Future category, supported by Clifford Chance
Adam Ali, an actor and writer, is wearing an all-black ensemble which perfectly complements their warm Arabic eyes and beautiful Libyan hair. And don’t get me started on the clarity of their skin: it’s glowing. “Thank you for taking the time to speak to me, guys,” says Adam, a shining star of Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley. They lead up The Future category, support by Clifford Chance.
“I love Attitude. This means a lot to me. And how very full circle. I think it’s been a year since the Baba article that the magazine wrote (more on the sensational Baba later) and I’m talking to you again about another project that’s even bigger. I feel very lucky.”
But the 23-year-old’s success is down to more than just chance. Most recently, their talents landed them the role of Kai Sharif, a queer lead character in this year’s revival of BBC high-school drama Waterloo Road. The well-loved TV series revolving around the roller-coaster lives of students and their teachers is set in Manchester, the city Adam now calls home. After leaving Libya with their family at a young age, they lived in Canada and Italy, before coming to the UK and staying in Bristol before settling in Manchester. “Which is why my accent is this weird concoction of random places,” they say.
Playing Kai has been something of a new direction for Adam. “Last year was very different. I was doing independent stuff and never fathomed the idea of working on a television show,” Adam shares, before adding that they very much enjoy the part they play. “I was taken aback by the freedom, the agency that Kai had. That duality at such a young age. I saw it as an opportunity to go back to school and live it, but this time as fully formed and proud. Who wouldn’t want to do that?”
“I’m Arabic. That’s my heritage”
Originally, the character was of South-Asian descent and named Bryn, but Adam wanted to make the part more authentic. “I’m Arabic. That’s my heritage,” Adam told the BBC. Happily, Adam was allowed to make the role their own. Omar Sharif, the famous Egyptian-Arabic actor and the first Arab star to be nominated for an Oscar in 1962 was the inspiration for their character’s name, Adam reveals. “As a homage to him, I took his surname, and Kai is short for Kaleel. It’s got this British-Arab twist to it — I love that I got to name my character,” they enthuse.
Adam had strong ideas about how to shape the part, too: “I really like Kai, but I want to play Kai freer, and I want to play the duality that one day he’s walking down the corridor, full face of makeup, or he could be on stage in drag, but the next minute, he’ll be on a basketball court.”
Adam’s input is evident from Kai’s first scene. Cloaked in a long jacket, Kai enters the school grounds as the students show their disgust at the school’s connections to racism by staging a non-school uniform day without permission. Then Kai unveils himself in leopard-print, three-quarter-length trousers, a bright orange Y2K top and pink sunglasses to boot.
“It feels so special to have people that are proud of you”
Adam’s passion for acting began at school. “In keeping with the nature of Waterloo Road, I’m going to have to say it was my teacher, Mr Taylor — my gay drama teacher — he saw something in me that I didn’t see myself,” they say. “He was empowering, put me in all the musicals and all the plays. At lunchtime, after school or any opportunity to be in the drama classroom, I was there.” The actor will be visiting their former secondary school — where their mum now works — soon to give a talk to the students. The school now honours Adam with a spot on its Alumni board. “It feels so special to have people that are proud of you. It’s an extended family, my high school,” they say.
Our conversation then flows towards Adam’s early career — by no means did they take baby steps. Their first major role was as Kamal, a migrant fleeing Iraq for Europe in 2021’s Europa. In it, Kamal flees into the Bulgarian wilderness, foraging and fighting for his life in a bid to escape mercenaries who are hunting migrants on the Turkish-Bulgarian border.
“I love Europa,” Adam tells me. “That feature film changed my life. It was a really difficult, excruciating shoot but I think the immersive [nature] is the beauty of the film. It straps you in — alongside the main character. The horror of the film isn’t in its music or in its editing or in its monsters or jump scares; the horror is that it’s real life.” Their efforts were rewarded with the Best Actor award at the Red Sea International Film Festival, while the feature’s director, Haider Rashid, won Best Director.
“I put all my trauma, all that internalised homophobia that I’d built up for 20 years, into one short film. It was a weight off my shoulders.”
Another project close to Adam’s heart is the short film Baba (2021). Adam not only stars in it, but they wrote it alongside Sam Arbor, the director. “My whole life has been leading up to writing Baba,” exclaims Adam. “It’s the most personal thing I’ve ever made — I put all my trauma, all that internalised homophobia that I’d built up for 20 years, into one short film. It was a weight off my shoulders. And, girl, let me tell you, making that film has been the biggest, most career-defining thing, because as soon as I made that film, I was ready to tell my story. I was writing at the same time that I was coming out.”
But it was a different project that finally led them to reveal their sexuality to their family at the age of 20.
“I decided to come out [to my family] because 2020 was when my episode [‘The Son’] in Little America came out for Apple TV. I played an openly gay Syrian refugee.” This brought Adam face to face with a dilemma. “On the one hand, I was telling the world, ‘Be you. Do you.’ And then on the other hand, in real life, I wasn’t doing that,” they confide. “I wasn’t honest with my family and myself about who I was. I couldn’t have my family find out I was gay on television. I took the initiative to tell them, and it wasn’t great at the beginning — for two years I basically blocked them.
“I was telling the world, ‘Be you. Do you.’ And then on the other hand, in real life, I wasn’t doing that,”
“After telling them the news, I ran away from the situation and buried my head in the sand. My mum had health issues. Repercussions of my actions or the way I went about doing it really sent my whole family into turmoil.” The fact that Adam and their family members were in different countries, separated by lockdown restrictions, worsened the whole ordeal. Fortunately, they have all since reconciled. “My family is really supportive,” says Adam.
During those dark days, Adam’s closest friends were a lifeline. “My queer chosen family are the people that were there for me at the very beginning when I first came out and I was fearful of my life and how my family was going to take it. I’m surrounded by a beautiful, talented, unbelievable, chosen family. I grew up with the likes of Miss Yasmin Finney as my best friend. I love her so much.” These bonds keep Adam’s feet on the ground as their career skyrockets. “It’s mind-blowing where we [Yasmin and I] are. We’re humbled and we ground ourselves but that’s why I love our relationship, because we can always be like, ‘Yeah, girl — don’t forget where we came from.’”
Little America went on to win a number of awards and to receive a BAFTA nomination, with Adam’s performance netting them a nomination for Best Male Performance in a New Scripted Series at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Baba was also well received. Not only did it win Best British Short at the Iris Prize Festival 2021, but it also won the main Iris Prize Award of £30,000. It’s possible that the film may be developed into a full-length feature. “Me and Sam have been texting recently and we’re in talks with people,” says Adam. Impressive stuff for Libya’s first LGBTQ+ flick. Adam goes on to describe how it opened doors for them. Afterwards, they were “entering casting rooms with Russell T. Davies and [Doctor Who casting director] Andy Pryor — and being seen for roles like the Doctor”.
A pattern has emerged with the parts Adam takes on, with many focused around Arabic, Muslim and queer representation: “Queer Arab magic,” as Adam puts it. One of their goals for the future includes writing “a feel-good, queer, Arabic love-story feature [film]. Something that Arabs across the world can feel proud of and cherish.” With their visibility, Adam will keep pushing for greater representation of these communities. “I respect and look up to people like Tan France and people that are Muslim and pushing the envelope. I want to be that role model for people,” they say.
“I live life on my own terms — I used to think I had to pick one facet of my personality over the other,” they confide. “I could only be queer and British or Arab and Muslim. But the beauty of hindsight, and growing up, having time to grow and heal and reflect, is that I’m now at a place in my life and feel comfortable to be visible and out. I think the thing that I appreciate the most about being able to grow up in the UK [in comparison to Libya] is you don’t have to really pick one thing over the other.”
“It’s been a blessing being gay, the biggest blessing in my life”
In the past, Adam explains how they felt stigma about being a refugee. “As a first-generation immigrant, I made peace with the shame that I held growing up as an asylum-seeker and a refugee,” they say. Despite the challenges they have lived through, Adam is grateful for these experiences and feeds them into their work. “I feel like a citizen of the world. I can use my different languages and accents and constantly transform,” they explain. “I have all these cultures to pull on, to reminisce about, like the different types of people that I met.”
Representation is a priority for the actor, whatever role they play, declaring that they practise their activism through the roles they choose. Adam calls this “leading with kindness, positivity and love. Not seeking permission to protest, not being fearful to be outspoken, to be loud and proud. Most importantly, at the core of everything that I do, it’s about visibility.”
“At the core of everything that I do is something that can I pride myself on”
Expanding on the theme of identity, Adam says, “As someone who for two decades of their life lived closeted and in secret, I pride myself on not having any secrets. I hate secrets and I worked really hard to be able to live and work visibly — the last thing I’d want is to have that toned down or lied about because it takes me back to a dark place in my life. At the core of everything that I do is something that can I pride myself on. Someone that 16-year-old Adam could see and be like, ‘Wow! I never have to go a day lying about who I am or looking over my shoulder.’”
Adam is pleased to be an inspiration for others, especially having been through difficult times with their family. “I’ve worked hard to have that privilege, to be where I am. I almost lost my family, and it put me in danger — there’s been a lot of hurdles that I’ve overcome but in doing it, I passed a threshold. I’m now freer than ever.” I can sense this in their words, their excitement.
“Listen, it’s been a blessing being gay, the biggest blessing in my life,” they continue. “I don’t have any gender restrictions or anything that makes me feel I have to be toxic or weird with my masculinity.” They then finish with a reflection on their latest role: “It’s so beautiful to be able to bring that to Kai and almost go back in time to relive it, but this time, proud as myself.”
The rest of the Attitude The Future 101 list
Max Taylor, Director of Strategy at Student Pride
Sam Winton, Founder and CEO of Here For Sport
Joel Mordi, Founder of the Mordi Ibe Foundation
Adam Beales, TV presenter, YouTuber and author
Dakota Schiffer, Drag queen
Noah Schnapp, Actor
070 Shake, Singer-songwriter
Cavetown, Singer-songwriter
Baby Queen, Singer-songwriter
Words Kanune Morrissey, Photography Dean Ryan McDaid, Fashion Sachin Cogna Fashion assistant Jadzia Scott, Makeup Jaylin Ye, Hair Viorela Coman at Gary Represents
Bentley Continental GT Speed bentleymotors.com