Ismail Jumaih

In 2016, Jumaih made his film debut in Hussain Munawwar's Neyngi Yaaru Vakivee alongside Aminath Rishfa and Ahmed Azmeel.[1] Critics gave the film bad reviews and considered his performance as Sham, to be "boring" while criticising the character development.[2] However, Ahmed Jaishan of Vaguthu, found Jumaih's acting to be "natural and impressive" considering his debut role and picked him as the "biggest highlight" from the "disappointing" film.[3] Despite the negative reviews, the film did average business at the end of its run.[4] Jumaih's other release of the year came with Fathimath Nahula's horror film 4426, where he portrayed the role of Hanim, an aggressive member of the friends who get trapped in a haunted house.[5] Upon release, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Ahmed Nadheem of Avas labelled the film as a "masterpiece" and mentioned Jumaih to be the "surprising element" of the film.[6] Complimenting the improvements he showed from Neyngi Yaaru Vakivee, Nadheem picked his role as the second best performance of the film; "With compliments to Nahula for her character building, Jumaih was deep in the character of Hanim, portraying the role to its fullest".[6] With twenty-five back-to-back housefull shows being screened, 4426 was declared as the highest grossing Maldive film of the year.[7] At the 8th Gaumee Film Awards Jumaih received a nomination for Best Male Debut award for his performance in Neyngi Yaaru Vakivee with another nomination for Best Makeup in 4426.[8]