Walid Chaya

Teaches at Studio for Performing Arts LA

Walid Chaya is a Middle Eastern actor, director and writer based in Los Angeles. He is known for his breakout performance in the film “Driving Ms. Saudi,” for which he won “Best Comedy Short” from Dubai's prestigious WOW Mid-East Film Fair and additional festivals worldwide, including the World Expo in 2022. Disrupt Magazine has called him a creative genius.

Walid can be seen on television in "Madam Secretary" (CBS), "Blacklist: Redemption" (NBC) and Hulu's "The Looming Tower" which is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book, to name a few. He wrote, directed and starred in “Driving Ms. Saudi” inspired by the #women2drive movement and has several multicultural, gender-diverse and musical projects in development.

Oscar-Winner Guy Nattiv directed Walid in A24's feature “Skin” and Walid performed opposite Tony-Nominee Suzanne Bertish in the feature "Mad?." He has two upcoming films, "Magic Hour," alongside Miriam Shor, and “Slingshot” starring Chris Mulkey.