Faten Hamama

Faten Ahmed Hamama (فاتن حمامه ; 27 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an Egyptian film and television actress and film producer.

She was the first wife of Ezz El-Dine Zulficar.

Faten Hamama was born in 1931 to an Egyptian lower middle class family in Mansoura, Egypt (according to her birth certificate), but she claimed to have been born in the Abdin quarter of Cairo.

She has an older brother, Mounir, a younger sister, Layla and a younger brother, Mazhar.

Her aspiration for acting arose at an early age.

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.

She made her screen debut in 1939, when she was only seven years old.

Her earliest roles were minor, but her activity and gradual success helped to establish her as a distinguished Egyptian actress.

Later revered as an icon in Egyptian cinema.

When she won a children's beauty pageant in Egypt, her father sent her picture to the director Mohamed Karim who was looking for a young female child to play the role of a small girl with the famous Egyptian actor and musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab in the film Youm Sai'd (يوم سعيد, A Happy Day, 1939).

After an audition, Abdel Wahab decided she was the one he was looking for.

After her role in the film, people called her "Egypt's own Shirley Temple".

The director liked her acting and was impressed with her so much that he signed a contract with her father.

Four years later, she was chosen by Kareem for another role with Abdel Wahab in the film Rossassa Fel Qalb (رصاصه فى القلب, Bullet in the Heart, 1944) and in another film two years later, Dunya (دنيا, Universe, 1946).

After her success, Hamama moved with her parents to Cairo and started her study at the High Institute of Acting in 1946.

Youssef Wahbi, an Egyptian actor and director, recognised the young actress's talent so he offered her a lead role in the 1946 film Malak al-Rahma (ملاك الرحمه, Angel of Mercy).

The film attracted widespread media attention, and Hamama, who was only 15 at the time, became famous for her melodramatic role.

In 1947, Hamama married producer/film director Ezz El-Dine Zulficar while filming the Abu Zayd al-Hilali (أبو زيد الهلالى ) film.

They started a production company which produced the film Maw`ed Ma` al-Hayat (موعد مع الحياه, Date with Life) in which she starred.

This film earned her the title of the "lady of the Arabic screen".

In 1949, Hamama had roles in three films with Wahbi: Korsi el-e'traf (كرسى الاعتراف, Chair of Confession), Al-Yateematain (اليتيمتين, The Two Orphans) and Sitt al-Bayt (ست البيت, Lady of the House).

All were successful films.

The 1950s were the beginning of the golden age of the Egyptian cinema industry, and Hamama played a significant part.

In 1950, she starred alongside Mahmoud Zulfikar in the fantasy film; Akhlaq lil baye (أخلاق للبيع, Virtue for Sale, 1950).

She also played lead roles in Yousef Shaheen's Baba Amin (بابا أمين, Amin, my Father, 1950) and Sira` Fi al-Wadi (صراع فى الوادى , Struggle in the Valley, 1954)l, 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 Al-Manzel Raqam 13 (المنزل رقم 13, House Number 13).

In 1951, she starred in the film Lak Yawm Ya Zalem (لك يوم يا ظالم, Your Day will Come) which was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival for the Prix International award.

She divorced Zulficar in 1954.

One year later, she married Egyptian film star Omar Sharif.

Meanwhile, Hamama continued to act in films directed by her first husband.

Zulficar.

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.

In 1959, she starred in the Ezz El-Dine Zulficar's romantic classic, Bain Al Atlal (بين الأطلال, Among the Ruins) with her favorite 1950s co-star Emad Hamdy and Egypt's new rising leading man Salah Zulfikar.

In 1963, she received an award for her role in the political film La Waqt Lel Hob (لا وقت للحب, 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 1996, nine of the films she starred in were included in the Top hundred films in the history of Egyptian cinema by the cinema critics of Cairo International Film Festival.

After a seven-year hiatus from acting, Hamama returned in 2000 in what was a much anticipated television series, Wageh El Amar (وجه القمر, Face of the Moon).

Hamama substantially helped in improving the cinema industry in Egypt and emphasizing the importance of women in cinema and Egyptian society.

In 2000, she was selected as Star of the Century by the Egyptian Writers and Critics organization.