Espoito was in the country while filming 7 Dogs, a movie about an Interpol agent attempting to fight drug trafficking alongside a crime syndicate [Sayed Hassan/Getty Images]
The actor who played Gustavo “Gus” Fring in Breaking Bad has converted to Islam during filming in Saudi Arabia, according to the country’s entertainment chief.
In a post on X on Sunday, Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, said that Giancarlo Espoito recited the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, and prayed with the production crew at a mosque in the Kingdom.
AlalShikh added that Espoito’s conversion came after his interactions with Muslims while in the country, sharing a video of him praying with production members in the post.
Espoito was in the country while filming 7 Dogs, a movie about an Interpol agent attempting to fight drug trafficking alongside a crime syndicate. The film was released in May this year.
Espoito is most famous for playing the character Gus in the American series Breaking Bad, reprising the role in the spin-off Better Call Saul.
He has also been in several other series, including The Mandalorian and The Boys, as well as the movies Captain America: Brave New World and Malcolm X.
Alongside Espoito, Alalshikh also said that another member of the team behind 7 dogs converted to Islam in a separate post on X.
Cyrus Patel, a producer and production manager based in the UK, converted to Islam after filming inside the kingdom, according to Alalshikh, who posted a photo of his IMDB profile as well as his certificate of conversion to Islam from The London Central Mosque Trust Limited & The Islamic Cultural Centre on X.
