From Stowaway to Stardom: Spanish Actor’s Incredible Journey

Ahmed Younoussi was barely 7 years old when he left his family home in Morocco. For more than a year, he lived on the streets between Tangier and Ceuta, desperately trying to cross the strait. After seven failed attempts, the eighth was successful. "I lived on the street, I lived on the street between Tangier and Ceuta, which were the ports from which I could leave," he tells La Razon. In Ceuta, he learns Spanish and gradually begins to integrate. At the age of 8 and a half, he manages to hide under a truck to reach Spain. He falls asleep during the journey and wakes up in Barbate.

This is where his life takes a turn. Three young women notice him at a gas station where he is looking for a phone. "These girls saw me, made me get into their car and took me to their home. And that’s where the adventure began, up to today," he explains. Destination Madrid, first to the Hortaleza youth center, then to Vallecas. It is in this last center that he meets Borja, Francisco José Valcárcel Fernández, an educator who will welcome him into his home. "I went from a center to a house, with my room, my school next door, my friends, and I became a teenager like the others," recalls Ahmed. He describes Borja as "practically a god."

Like many children who try to reach Spain at the risk of their lives, Ahmed believed that "money fell from the sky" on the Iberian peninsula. "Then I realized that no, it was water that fell, like in Morocco," he says with humor. Reality quickly caught up with him: you have to work, adapt, integrate. One day, director Juan Gautier contacts him to advise a short film about a boy stuck under a truck. Juan finally offers him to participate in this adventure. Together, they make "Metrópolis Ferry," pre-selected for the Goya. The young man also meets Juan Diego Botto and Sergio Peris Mencheta. "If I am the actor I am today, it is partly, or even largely, thanks to Sergio," he acknowledges.

Today, Ahmed is playing in "14.4," a play written by Juan Diego Botto and directed by Sergio Peris Mencheta. The title refers to the 14.4 kilometers that separate Morocco from Spain. During the tour of this play, he discovers the initiative of Superacció, an association that helps young migrants. This is how he participates in the Titan Desert Almería with the team "4 miradas, una meta." "I’m not a professional. I ride a bike, I like gymnastics, but the Titan is respected," he explains. After this first stage, the Moroccan says he feels proud: "From that moment on, I believe I began to feel like a titan."

When asked what he thinks of the term "menas" used to refer to unaccompanied foreign minors, Ahmed replies: "To call a human being, a person ’mena,’ I think you first have to not respect yourself. You won’t have the ability to respect the other human beings around you either." As for prospects, Ahmed is awaiting the new tour dates to go back on stage with "14.4," to continue telling his story and that of thousands of other minors who have tried to cross the strait to reach Spain, at their own risk.

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