Bella and Ramy Bffs

Bella Hadid makes her long-awaited acting debut on the new season of Ramy. And it turns out her friendship with the show's creator and star, Ramy Youssef, has helped her navigate some of life's more meaningful questions concerning faith, family, and using your voice for the common good.

- Sarah Hagi

IT IS DIFFICULT to imagine a career trajectory for a millennial supermodel that does not involve a pivot to acting. In the case of Bella Hadid, arguably the world's most famous model since she was 17, the crossover might have even seemed inevitable. "People probably thought," she tells me, "that my first acting job would be something super sensual and sexy."

Instead, when the 25-year-old makes her acting debut this fall as a guest star on Ramy, it'll be in a slightly more unhinged role: a weirdo girlfriend.

The Emmy-nominated dark comedy (you can find it on Lionsgate Play) follows a fictionalized version of Ramy Youssef, an Egyptian American millennial who tries and mostly fails-to be a good Muslim as he navigates adulthood. Across two buzzy seasons, the show has been lauded by critics for its general abhorrence of easy morality and its eagerness to dive into messy territory. For example, one of Ramy's more quotidian plot points involves Ramy helping his best friend jerk off because his muscular dystrophy won't allow him to masturbate.

And Hadid's role on the show? "It's probably one of the weirdest scripts we've ever written," says Youssef. "And that says a lot."

The model and showrunner first connected back in January, when Youssef emailed Hadid out of the blue and asked if she'd be interested in a guest spot. They hopped on a Zoom and, after a long conversation, Hadid said yes. "I was like, this is perfect," Hadid gushes. "We hadn't even met before, but I had a feeling it was gonna be kismet."