How a Russian girl became a movie star in Egypt: Nelly Karim breaks stereotypes about women of the East

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

This charming beauty stands out among the stars of Egyptian cinema not only for her European appearance. The daughter of a military engineer from Egypt and a teacher from Russia masterfully plays on the strings of human souls and wins the audience's sympathy, no matter what role she plays. And she also breaks all the templates about the women of the East.

Childhood into two countries

Nelly Karim was born in 1974 in Egypt to an international family. Her dad is an Egyptian engineer, graduated from the Naval Academy in Alexandria, and her mother is a Russian teacher from a village near St. Petersburg. But when she was 6 years old, the family moved to Russia. Nellie went to first grade there and graduated from high school. And throughout her school years, she studied ballet. By the way, her parents took her to a ballet class at the age of 4, back in Egypt.

In 1991, when the girl graduated from high school, her family returned to Egypt. Nelly entered the Academy of Arts in Alexandria to continue her ballet studies. The father soon died, and the mother and children remained to live in the land of the pharaohs, which became her second homeland. The family spoke Russian, and Nelly Karim and today Nelly speaks Russian practically without an accent.

From ballerinas to actresses

It is worth saying that Nelly Karim has made a brilliant career. She not only received a higher education, but also completed her graduate school as a ballet director. At the Cairo Opera and Ballet Theater, where she danced, she immediately eclipsed the rest of the ballerinas not only with her beauty and grace, but also with her skill, for which Russian ballet dancers are famous. The years of study in Russia were not in vain.

1995 was a turning point for Nelly Karim - she took part in the Egyptian film "1001 Nights", where she played a ballerina. The young and talented beauty was immediately noticed by the directors and began to offer roles in the cinema, so the second stage in her career began - the film industry.

Nelly began acting in films and immediately won the love of the viewer. The talent of the actress was revealed in her. First she was taken to melodrama, then comedy and drama. Until 2021, she has already starred in more than 30 films and TV series. Her role is a drama that she does very well, despite the fact that she never studied acting.

Nelly Karim won fame and popular love for herself, became a popular actress in Egypt and left ballet, now it's just her hobby. Despite her stardom and demand, she remains an easy-to-communicate person, gives interviews, maintains her Instagram page and publishes photos, responds to comments from subscribers, of whom there are already about 6.5 million.

Today, Nelly is also a model, she appears in commercials and always on the pages of fashion magazines. It should be noted that Nelly Karim, like almost all Egyptian film actresses, wears open clothes on the screen and in life, despite the fact that she is a Muslim. The only thing that she does not allow herself is shooting with explicit scenes or even kissing in the frame. Although in Egyptian cinema, nothing is usually filmed.

Today, Nelly has many awards and prizes, she was even invited to the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2010. Among the awards, Nelly Karim - Best Actress in 2004 at the Cairo Film Festival and a special award in 2010. She won the Grand Prix at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, in 2012 she won the award at the Arab Film Festival for Best Actress. Perhaps her talent lies in the fact that in her veins there is a mixture of two powerful nations - Russia and Egypt, which influenced her abilities and brought good luck.

Three divorces, four children and faith in the future

Nelly was married three times and divorced three times. She first married when she was 16 to businessman Bahaa Sabri against the will of her family. In marriage, Nelly gave birth to two sons and at the same time managed to dance in ballet, but after 9 years the couple separated.

Then, she secretly married and stayed in this marriage for only one month. Nelly considers this marriage a big mistake and refuses to talk about it.

In 2004, she married her third husband, nutritionist Hani Abu Nag, on the fourth day after meeting. 11 years of marriage, 2 daughters and divorce again.

At the end of last year, her joint photos with the Egyptian billionaire businessman Omar Islam appeared on the personal pages of the actress on social networks. After some time, Nelly Karim admitted to reporters that they were engaged and preparing for the wedding, and exclusive photos appeared in the press, in which the lovers were together on a yacht at sea.

But in the spring of 2021, the actress made a public statement and announced that she had terminated her engagement to Omar Islam. In an interview with reporters, she said: “Nobody is 100% happy or unhappy. Of course, troubles do happen. Besides, I am a very sensitive person. But I'm not offended by anyone. It's just that I always and do my best not to let any circumstances break me. The actress especially emphasized that she does not like it when they talk about her personal life and asked to limit herself to news about her work.

Today she is 46 years old, she has 4 children, her heart is free, she is a professional ballerina, a talented actress and an extraordinary personality. At the same time, she is a caring mother and a simple open person. Nelly Karim is fluent in Arabic, Russian and English. Like all Russian ballerinas, she is stubborn and hardy, which helped her in her career. She received recognition not because of connections or relationships, but only because of her hard work, perseverance and beauty.

It should be noted that Nelly Karim is not the only talented person who is connected in Russia. Continuing the theme, a story about who of the world celebrities have Russian roots or come from the CIS countries.