Career
She started her acting career in 1967 and has played a role in over 80 films. Fathi started her acting career at age 16 when she was approached by producer Adli El-Mawalid, while she was at the beach in Alexandria with her friends. She dropped out of school in 1967 to get involved in acting.
Her career began in earnest and she starred in the 1968 film Afrah ("Joys"), produced in Lebanon.
The director of the film, Ali Badrakhan had reservations about Fathi, but producer Ramses Naguib saw her as potential romance icon. Throughout the 1970s, she acted in roughly 15 films a year, predominantly romantic dramas.
In the Egyptian film industry, she was only second to actress Faten Hamama in the number or romance films acted in. During the 1980s, Fathi largely departed from this role and began acting more complicated roles in movies dealing with a social and political dimension.
The film was based on a true story and Fathi described it as the "most difficult and painful" role she has had to play.
According to writer Nagla El-Baz, the movie was a success in raising awareness about the issue of overpopulation.
