DUBAI: As considered one of Arab cinema’s main girls, celebrity Egyptian actress Yousra has worn many hats since her onscreen debut within the Nineteen Seventies. The multi-hyphenate, who has starred in additional than 80 movies and quite a few common Ramadan TV sequence, can also be a singer, a member of the Academy of Movement Photos Arts and Sciences (making her an Oscars voter), a United Nations goodwill ambassador, a fashionista and former regional model ambassador for Dior recognized for her impeccable type, and a devoted activist for causes together with ladies’s rights.
A relentless presence at movie festivals and awards ceremonies world wide, Yousra, 67, is a real consultant of Arab cinema on the worldwide stage. The late journalist and acclaimed author Anis Mansour referred to as Yousra “the worldwide face of Egypt.” That is, in no small half, as a result of her work exterior of performing — she’s usually invited onto juries at worldwide movie festivals, and is assured to glitter on the purple carpet. And her work as a goodwill ambassador for the UN — for which she has acquired greater than 50 awards — has left a long-lasting influence world wide, first with the UN Improvement Program, and extra not too long ago because the regional UNAIDS ambassador, a publish she took up in 2016.
“Earlier than being part of the UN, I all the time tried to assist folks if I might,” Yousra instructed Forbes. “We do a number of work in Egypt serving to boys on medication, and we assist with empowering ladies too. Now, I’m working with the UN to assist deal with the problem of AIDS within the area.”
She has additionally contributed her effort and time to Coptic Orphans, a non-profit group based mostly in Merrifield, Virginia, so as to assist Egyptian orphans.
Talking to Trend Belief Arabia, Yousra defined a part of her motivation for her activism. “We’re people and we have to protect humanity, to handle one another, to be merciful,” she stated. “It’s been 15 years I’ve been warning a couple of doable World Warfare III. We’ve no alternative however to imagine in folks.”
However, after all, it’s her onscreen presence that has achieved probably the most to cement Yousra’s place as a number one cultural determine within the Arab world. “I feel the usual for a real legend is to be sincere with your self and in your work,” Yousra instructed Harper’s Bazaar in 2019. “And never solely as a result of it’s worthwhile. You could be really enthusiastic about what you do.”
She went on to say: “Love, religion and respect are what makes a real star.” And nobody can doubt that Yousra isn’t a real star.
She was born Seveen Mohamed Hafez Nessim in Cairo in March 1955. As a youngster, she was reportedly concerned about turning into a diplomat. A life in service appeared like the right alternative for the younger bohemian, who was keenly attuned to the world’s issues. However an opportunity viewing of Soad Hosny on the set of a movie without end modified Yousra’s trajectory. She immediately caught the performing bug.
Egyptian star Faten Hamama was a significant supporter early on, and helped Yousra community with among the largest names within the trade. “Once I was a no person, I used to take a seat on the similar desk as the celebrities of Egypt and so they made me a star with them,” she defined in an interview with Enigma. “I bought to combine with the creme de la creme of Egyptian cinema. I sat with them, talked with them, and, most significantly, I realized from them.”
In that very same interview, Yousra decribed the Eighties as “a decade that gave us a few of our greatest actors, writers, administrators and journalists. They supported new faces and helped them discover the best course.”
Considered one of Yousra’s largest supporters was — and nonetheless is — legendary actor Adel Emam, with whom she has appeared in 17 movies. “He taught me the distinction between good style and dangerous style. He taught me the way to cope with the viewers, the way to take the viewers precisely the place we needed. Adel starred in so many vital and dedicated films,” she instructed Trend Belief Arabia. “After which I realized to belief my very own selections, to belief the director first. I managed to work with the best administrators, who helped me to shock myself and the viewers, particularly within the Nineties.”
Making the best selections has been essential to Yousra’s success and longevity. Egyptian movie critic Andrew Mohsen, programming director on the Cairo Worldwide Movie Competition, says that Yousra has been good sufficient to diversify her roles and adapt to the ever-shifting panorama of Egyptian cinema. (He notes that her magnificence, appeal and uncommon expertise have been fairly helpful too.)
“All through her profession, Yousra has taken various roles,” Mohsen instructed Arab Information. “She didn’t stick to only taking part in the gorgeous lady or ‘reacting’ characters. In her very early roles, she labored at discovering completely different profession paths and we will discover this particularly within the movies the place she labored with Adel Emam. She was additionally very good when it got here to selecting whom to work with, whether or not it was stars, filmmakers or screenwriters — she
labored with all of the vital and powerful filmmakers throughout completely different intervals of cinema since she began, like Youssef Chahine and Yousry Nasrallah.
One of many movies Mohsen highlights is Chahine’s 1989 venture “Alexandria: Once more and Ceaselessly,” the final movie in a famend trilogy. “Chahine gave her a vital function in that movie, the place she bought to be romantic, dance and likewise do comedy. She did a number of work on this function,” stated Mohsen.
“And I can’t neglect her function in Yousry Nasrallah’s ‘Mercedes’ both,” Mohsen added. “She performed two completely different characters on this movie — whole opposites. One is a really robust businesswoman, and the opposite may be very shy. It’s actually considered one of her most vital roles.”
For his third decide, Mosen chooses Sherif Arafa’s 1995 movie “Toyour Elzalam.” “Once we see the arc of her character — how she managed to manage her character by means of all of the adjustments — that was distinctive,” he stated.
Yousra has established herself as an icon within the Arab world and past, and that’s serving to her to attain considered one of her predominant targets. “We all the time must construct bridges between the Arab and Western worlds and to convey cultures collectively,” she instructed Trend Belief Arabia. “We have to present our true colours, who we actually are, us Arabs, to the Western public. It’s our job.”
