Malek was born in Los Angeles, on May 12, 1981 to Egyptian immigrant parents, Said Malek and Nelly Abdel-Malek.[2][3] He also professes to also be of one-eighth Greek heritage.[4][5] His parents left Cairo in 1978 after his father, a tour guide, became intrigued with his visitors from the West.[3] They settled in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, mostly staying in the valley and rarely venturing into Hollywood.[6] His father took up selling insurance,[7] while his mother is an accountant.[8] Malek was raised in his family's Coptic Orthodox faith and grew up speaking Arabic at home until the age of four.[9][10][11] Malek has an identical twin brother named Sami who is younger by four minutes and is a teacher.[12][6] Malek's older sister, Yasmine, is an ER doctor.[13] His parents emphasized the importance of their children preserving their Egyptian roots, and his father would wake his son in the middle of the night to talk to his Arabic-speaking extended family in their hometown of Samalut, Egypt.[13]