Background

Faten Hamama was born in 1931 to a Muslim middle class family in Mansoura, Egypt (according to her birth certificate), but she claimed to have been born in the Abdeen quarter of Cairo. Her father, Ahmed Hamama, worked as a clerk in the Egyptian Ministry of Education and her mother was a housewife. She has an older brother, Muneer, a younger sister, Layla and a younger brother, Mazhar. Her aspiration for acting arose at an early age. Hamama said that she was influenced by Assia Dagher as a child. When she was six years old, her father took her to the theater to see an Assia Dagher film; when the audience clapped for Assia, she told her father she felt they were clapping for her.

Education

At Faten Hamama's early teens, she was studying acting at an institute in Cairo

Career

Youssef Wahbi, an Egyptian actor and director, recognized the young actress's talent so he offered Faten a lead role in the 1946 film Malak al-Rahma. The film attracted widespread media attention, and Hamama, who was only 15 at the time, became famous for her melodramatic role. In 1949, Hamama had roles in three films with Wahbi: Kursi Al-I'etraf (Chair of Confession), Al-Yateematain (The Two Orphans) and Sït Al-Bayt (Lady of the House). All were successful films.

The 1950s were the beginning of the golden age of the Egyptian cinema industry and Hamama was a big part of it. In 1952 she starred in the film Lak Yawm Ya Zalem (Your Day will Come) which was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival for the Prix International award. She also played lead roles in Yousef Shaheen's Baba Ameen (Ameen, my Father, 1950) and Sira' Fi Al-Wadi (Struggle in the Valley, 1954) which was a strong nominee at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival for the Prix International award. Hamama is also known for having played the lead role in the first Egyptian mystery film Manzel Raqam 13 (House Number 13). In 1963, she received an award for her role in the political film La Waqt Lel Hob (No Time for Love). Hamama was also able to make it to Hollywood; in 1963 she had a role in the crime film, Cairo.

In 1947, Hamama married actor/director Ezzel Dine Zulficar while filming the Abu Zayd al-Hilali film. They started a production company which produced the film Maw'ed Ma' Al-Hayat (Date with Life) in which she starred. This particular film earned her the title of the "lady of the Arabic screen". She divorced al-Faqqar in 1954. One year later, she married Egyptian film star Omar Sharif. Meanwhile, Hamama continued to act in films directed by her first husband.

In 1954, while filming a Youssef Chahine film, Struggle in the Valley, Hamama refused to have the Egyptian actor Shukry Sarhan as a co-star, and Chahine offered Omar Sharif the role. Omar had just graduated from college then and was working for his father; Hamama accepted him as her co-star. Hamama had never agreed to act any scene involving a kiss in her career, but she shockingly accepted to do so in this film. They fell in love, and Sharif converted to Islam and married her. This marriage started a new era of Hamama's career, in which the couple made many films together. Sharif and Hamama were the romantic leads of Ayyamna Al-Holwa (Our Sweet Days), Ardh Al-Salam (Land of Peace), La Anam (Sleepless) and Sayyidat Al-Qasr (The Lady of the Palace). Their last film together before their divorce, was Nahr Al-Hob (The River of Love) in 1960.

As Hamama became older, her acting roles declined and she made fewer films compared to earlier in her career, but nevertheless her films were successful. She made her first television appearances in her late career. She starred in the TV mini-series Dameer Ablah Hikmat (Mrs. Hikmat's Conscience).

After 1993, her career came to a halt. It was not until 2000 that she returned in the successful TV mini-series Wajh ِِal-Qamar which was broadcast on 23 TV channels in the Middle East. In this mini-series, Hamama portrayed and criticized many problems in Egyptian and Middle Eastern society. Despite some criticisms, the mini-series received much praise and acclaim. Hamama was awarded the Egyptian Best TV Actor of the Year and the mini-series won the Best TV Series Award in the Egyptian Radio and Television Festival. She entered history as the highest paid actress in an Egyptian television miniseries until 2006, when another actress was paid more.

Achievements

• Hamama was designated “Star of the Century” by the Egyptian writers and critics organization and in 2001 was granted a lifetime achievement award at the Alexandria International Film Festival, which also created a new medal in her honor. She also received lifetime honors at the international film festivals in Cairo (1996) and Dubai, U.A.E. (2009).

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Farewell my Love

    (This love story is about two young lovers who dram of get...)

    1951
  • The Open Door

    (The "First Lady" of Egyptian cinema, Faten Hamama, plays ...)

    1963
  • M Empire

    (One of the best loved Egyptian Films: on the surface it i...)

    1972
  • Among the Ruins

    (The film is directed by the Egyptian film director Ezzel ...)

    1959
  • The Sin

    (The film stars Faten Hamama, Zaki Rostom, and Abdullah Ga...)

    1965
  • The Nightingale's Prayer (Doua' El Karawan)

    (In 1996, during the Egyptian Cinema centennial, this film...)

    1959
  • Sira` Fi al-Mina

    (It is a 1956 Egyptian romance/crime/drama film directed b...)

    1956
  • Sleepless

    (A melodrama about a 1950s upper class society set in flam...)

    1957
  • The Fine Line

    (Adel is a humble engineer who is secretly in love with Mo...)

  • Every House Has Its Man

    (The film is about a man who dies leaving behind a widow a...)

    1949

Politics

Hamama left Egypt from 1966 to 1971, claiming that she was being harassed by Egyptian Intelligence. She had been a supporter of the 1952 Revolution, but later became an opponent of the Free Officers and their oppressive regime. She said they were "asking her to cooperate" but she apologized and refused. In consequence, she was forbidden to travel or participate in film festivals. She was only able to leave Egypt after many serious disputes.

While she was away, then President Gamal Abdel Nasser asked famous writers, journalists and friends to try to convince her to return to Egypt. He called her a "national treasure" and even awarded her an honorary decoration in 1965. However, she would not return until 1971, after Nasser's death. Following her return she played roles conveying messages of democracy. She often criticized the laws in Egypt in her films. In the 1972 film Imbarotiriyat Meem (The Empire of M), Hamama presented a pro-democratic point of view and received an award from the Soviet Union of Women in the Moscow International Festival. Her most significant film was Oridu Hallan (I Want a Solution). In this film, she criticized laws governing marriage and divorce in Egypt. After the film, the Egyptian government abrogated a law that forbade wives from divorcing their husbands, therefore allowing khul'.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Height: 5′ 1″

Connections

She was involved in marriage three times in her lifetime, and had children.

Father:

Ahmed Hamama

Spouse:

Mohamed Abdel Wahab Mahmoud

former spouse:

Omar Sharif

former spouse:

Ezzel Dine Zulficar

offspring:

Tarek Sharif, Nadia Zulfakar

Role model:

Assia Dagher

References

• fatenhamama.com Egyptian Cultural Development Fund