{"id":488253,"date":"2026-06-21T09:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488253\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T09:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T09:51:11","slug":"breaking-bad-star-giancarlo-esposito-embraces-islam-while-filming-new-project-in-saudi-arabia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/488253\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Breaking Bad’ star Giancarlo Esposito embraces Islam while filming new project in Saudi Arabia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reports say he formally embraced Islam after spending time in the Kingdom and working closely with Muslim colleagues<\/p>\n

American actor Giancarlo Esposito has embraced Islam during his stay in Saudi Arabia while filming a new entertainment project, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Turki Al-Sheikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia\u2019s General Entertainment Authority, reportedly<\/a> revealed\u00a0that the actor formally embraced Islam after spending time in the Kingdom and working closely with Muslim colleagues during production.<\/p>\n

According to Al-Sheikh, Esposito recited the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, and later joined members of the production team in prayer at a mosque.<\/p>\n

A video shared on social media reportedly showed the actor praying alongside crew members, drawing widespread attention online.<\/p>\n

Al-Sheikh said Esposito\u2019s decision followed a positive personal experience in Saudi Arabia, where he appreciated the hospitality, sense of community and warm reception he received while working on the project.<\/p>\n

The development has prompted considerable discussion on social media, particularly among fans who have followed Esposito\u2019s career across film and television over several decades.<\/p>\n

Esposito is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the acclaimed television series Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul. He has also earned recognition for his performances in The Mandalorian and numerous major Hollywood productions.<\/p>\n

The actor is currently in Saudi Arabia working on 7 Dogs, a major production that forms part of the Kingdom\u2019s growing entertainment sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reports say he formally embraced Islam after spending time in the Kingdom and working closely with Muslim colleagues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,71531,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-488253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-scandals-gossip","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}