Riyadh-Born Actress Mila Alzahrani Graces The Cover of Harper’s Bazaar Saudi’s Autumn 2021 Issue

The twenty-four-year old thespian certainly doesn’t shy away from taking on roles that both empower Arab women and challenge the status quo within the Kingdom and beyond…

Coincidences can sometimes entirely change someone’s path in life, yielding results that may even exceed one’s own plans. This was the case for young Saudi actress 

Mila Al Zahrani, who majored in Computer Science and had an ambitious plan to become a lecturer at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. But a chance connection through her Instagram account led her to a career in acting. “This was the best coincidence that ever happened in my life. I fell in love with acting with all my heart,” she stressed to Harper’s Bazaar Saudi. In spite of her academic ambition, Mila’s creativity has long been evident in her admiration of painting and the arts in all forms. “Even if I weren’t an actress, I would still end up joining the art world in one way or another,” she said 

Although coincidence may have played a role in her first steps into acting, Mila’s success is mainly attributed to her persistent efforts and commitment to the craft. When she arrived for our interview, a few injuries and bruises were noticeable on her wrist. They were the result of scenes she just shot in her latest production, a project that she is still keeping under wraps. “It is an international work and I am very excited to share the details, but only at the right time.” Clearly, hard work and dedication are part of Mila’s personality. “I believe in faith, so if you have faith in something and seek to achieve it, it will definitely be attained,” she confirmed. 

First Step On The Road 

The home where Mila grew up played a critical role in shaping the driven personality she has today, as she was the youngest and only daughter. “My parents are very cultured and supportive, and I have always been very open with them,” said Mila about her family’s reaction to her career shift. “My father travels a lot and my mother is a business woman. They both were very supportive of my career and I am so proud of that. They taught me that a person must work hard to shape his personality and sharpen his talents,” she shared. Even now Mila seeks her mother’s advice on her acting roles and productions. “My mother and I are very close. She is my friend and companion and I am her only daughter, so since childhood, I have alwasy shared with her the details of my day as soon as I got back from school, which is a habit I still have to this day,” admitted the actress.

In spite of being close to her family, Mila said that she feels content after recently moving out from her family’s home. “I finally moved to a new house nearby my family’s place, since my work as an actress requires intense focus,” she explained. “I might talk with myself loudly or make some gestures while reading the text, which all requires a quiet space and having my independence helped a lot [with that]. I am also not very organised,” she laughingly added, noting that people may sometimes feel upset about her messiness although, to her, it is an organised mess. 

Under The Spotlight 

Following her life-changing starring role in the Saudi series Boxing Girls, which was produced by MBC, Mila has been living a celebrity life. The series turned her into a well- known actress locally, and she is very much enjoying her newfound fame. “I feel incredibly happy when people recognise me in public places, yet I still haven’t reached the level of fame that hinders my free movement, so I still feel I have a normal life,” she explained. The series Boxing Girls was a great asset to popularising Mila locally, but her film The Perfect Candidate, directed by Haifaa Al Mansour, was the spark that fueled her global fame. A fact that the actress realised only after attending this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France. There journalists, photographers, and attendees recognised the ingénue Saudi actress right away. “I was surprised with the film’s popularity, which I did not expect at all,” she said. “Before getting Mariam’s role in this film, I had several calls with its director Haifaa Al Mansour. Our conversations were tense and loud, but as soon as we started working together, I realised how similar we were. We both were very committed to work, and we became very close after the shooting was over,” recalled Mila of her time working on the film. 

Mila’s cooperative and friendly personality also played a positive role in the fascinating photo shoot for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Saudi in Riyadh; and it helped to finish the shoot in record time. The kindness of her personality was even more evident in the way she spoke with the waitress during our interview in a local coffee shop, as she complimented the coffee with a smile. This is Mila’s approach to communicating with her fans as well. She runs her social media pages on her own, and she is keen on exploring the audience’s opinion on every character she plays. “The key aspect of social media platforms for me is that it enables me to communicate with the audience and explore their thoughts on the roles I play,” she said. “Criticism also makes me stronger. I believe I cannot satisfy all people, so it is key to train myself on accepting opinions of all kinds. I eventually know that I cannot control the full scene, and the director as well as the scenarist have a specific message to deliver, but the audience may not be aware of that and thus they criticise,” she recounted. Mila is also keen on keeping a personal communication with producers and directors, so she has never hired a business manager. This choice has made Mila embarrassed to say no to projects sometimes, prompting her to accept works out of courtesy. “I regret a lot of previous works that I accepted out of courtesy with friends, but I learnt over time how to say no. I am also not planning on seeking help from a business manager as long as I can manage my own business, since I truly appreciate personal communication among colleagues in this field,” she said. 

We asked Mila about which achievement she is the proudest of since the start of her rise to fame, both locally and globally. “I am proud I discovered who I am,” she answered without any hesitation. “It is not easy to understand one’s self, but acting helped me attain this stage. Switching between characters was similar to living more than one life, so I got used to such a switch but also became more attached to my own identity,” she added.

A Big Change

Throughout her acting career, Mila witnessed first hand the large-scale change that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has seen over the past few years, and she believes such a change represents her personally as well. “Being the only daughter of my family made me dependent on them in several matters. I never thought I would be able to travel alone until I did in 2015, when I came back it was with a very different personality. I learnt how to be self-reliant in everything,” she explained. “My personality changed at the same time my country was changing. I actually experienced the same radical change that KSA was witnessing,” she said as she reflected on this trasformative time. The young actress believes that the opportunities the Saudi youth have now are not available anywhere else in the world. “The US used to be the country with millions of opportunities, but today KSA is this country. Anywhere you go, you can find support. Where else in the world would you find that? I really hope everyone will utilise these opportunities and never look back to the past with regret. They should rather look forward to the future and keep trying until their ambitions are realised,” she commented. When asked about the future, Mila has a very clear vision of what that future will look like, and she has a hope that it will also include an Oscar, but maybe for something other than acting. “I see the future as very prosperous, and I say these words with confidence! One day I will produce my own film with the vision I wish to deliver,” she said.

Promising Future

Speaking of the future, Mila is looking forward to her projects in the coming year. After the release of her new series Fondoq Al-Aqdar, which translates to Hotel of Destinies, on Shahid, she will next be seen in a new historical series titled Seferberlik, which recounts stories about the Ottoman Empire in Medinah. Mila describes the Seferberlik series as “a very important production”. Then there are two other new films that will be released next year as well, even though they were completed months apart. It is a coincidence that will soon find Mila with quite a number of major on-screen moments happening back to back. Therefore, the young actress is reconsidering her options for the next phase of her career. “I am planning on taking a break for a while, away from spotlight, to study professional acting abroad and once I come back, I will take part in a huge work that I will carefully choose.” All eyes are on cinema’s new golden girl.

Photography by Majid Angawi. Styling by Wafa Aldekhail.

Editor in Chief: Olivia Phillips. Producer: Jesse Vora. Studio Manager: Johana Dana. Art Director: Oscar Yanez. Arabic Editor: Khulood Ahmed. Make-Up: Arwa Mohammed. Hairstylist: That Jadeelah. Production Assistant: Hessah Abdullah. Digitich: Kholoud Hotami. Photographer Assistant: Mohammed Fawzi. Videographer: Areej Tariq.

From Harper’s Bazaar Saudi’s Autumn 2021 issue.