He traveled to Cluj-Napoca, Romania, to study civil engineering and began acting there.
After his success on the stage, he returned to Damascus to study acting at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts.
After returning to Syria, Abdo received a number of threats and was generally intimidated, and was criticized for his lack of patriotism.
[1] He joined his wife in Minnesota, where she was studying as a Humphrey fellow at the Fulbright Program.
In 2015, the USC School of Cinematic Arts created a documentary about him titled “Jihad in Hollywood“.