Majid Michel

Michel was born in Cantonments, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital Accra. The son of a Lebanese father and a Ghanaian mother, he grew up in Accra with his nine siblings. He attended St. Theresa's Primary School, and later, the Mfantsipim School, the alma mater of actor and director Van Vicker and also of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In secondary school, Michel was actively involved in theatre and was a member of the school's Drama Club. As a member of the drama club, he received a Best Actor Award in one of their performances on Emancipation Day in Cape Coast, Ghana. Before becoming a professional actor, Michel worked as a model. In a 2017 interview with Star FM Ghana, Majid shared that he didn't get the role for the first film he auditioned for due to his poor performance, but that his "passion for acting" propelled him to press forward in the film industry. His first starring role was in the popular television serial drama Things We Do for Love in which he played a young Lebanese working in a hotel. He was cast in his first movie, Divine Love, as the male lead, alongside Jackie Aygemang with Van Vicker in a supporting role. Divine Love was a success, turning Majid Michel, Jackie Agyemang and Van Vicker into household names in Ghana. In 2008, Michel starred in the lead role in the drama Agony of the Christ which received seven nominations at the Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2009, including for Michel as Best Actor. In October 2017, Michel disclosed that he is paid at least $15,000 and had earned as much as $35,000 to star in a film. In October 2017, Michel, a born-again Christian, announced on a radio interview that due to his religious beliefs, he would no-longer take on roles that requires him to kiss on set.