Background
Sednaoui was born in Italy and raised between three countries, Egypt, Italy, and France. Her mother is of Italian heritage, while her father has Syrian-Egyptian and French roots.
Sednaoui was born in Italy and raised between three countries, Egypt, Italy, and France. Her mother is of Italian heritage, while her father has Syrian-Egyptian and French roots.
She has appeared in such films as Eastern Drift, Louisiana Baie du renard, Business Palladium,Les Gamins, and Remember Now, as well as in fashion campaigns for Chanel Eyewear, Giorgio Armani, Missoni and Roberto Cavalli. In 2013, she created the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation, dedicated to promoting creative learning, after-school initiatives for youngsters. Family and Early She spent much of her early life in Luxor.
The Sednaoui family, a Melkite Greek Catholic family of Syrian descent, finds its roots in the city of Sednaya, which is where their surname originates from.
The Sednaoui family migrated to Egypt at the end of the 19th century and developed successful department stores in Cairo. These stores were once the Middle Eastern counterpart of the famous department stores known in London, Paris and New New York
In Louisiana Baie du Renard, a short film selected to close Critics Week (Semaine de la Critique) at Cannes Festival 2009, Sednaoui starred alongside Pierre Torreton Sednaoui co-directed with Martina Gili the documentary Kullu Taman (Everything is Good). The film showcases Egyptians not covered by mainstream media by telling the stories of characters who, despite their differences of age and belief, share the sudden discovery of what is usually referred to as “freedom of expression”.
The film depicts the countryside of Luxor.
In 2013, Sednaoui created the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes creative learning after-school programs for youngsters. The foundation"s pilot program, a music workshop for youngsters in Luxor, Egypt, took place in April, 2014. During a full school-week, local youngsters attended the workshop (organized with the support of Makan—the Egyptian Center Foreign Culture and Arts—and fellow NPO MIMA Music), which consisted in creative, game-like activities that helped them write and record a full song.
In addition to film, Sednaoui has appeared in campaigns for Chanel Eyewear, Giorgio Armani and a Roberto Cavalli fragrance campaign in February 2012, shot by Steven Klein for print and Johan Renck for television.In December 2015 she collaborated with Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino on his campaign for Missoni Fragrance.
She is also one of Karl Lagerfeld’s muses. Sednaoui has been featured on the cover of magazines such as Glamour Italia, Vogue United States, Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, L’Officiel, Flair, Marie Claire and Elle, among others