Hend Sabry

EARLY LIFE

Hend Sabry was born on 20 November 1979 in Kebili, southern Tunisia. She grew up in a cultured, open family; her father (Mohamed Al-Moldi) was a lawyer, and her mother was a French-language teacher. She attended the French Lycée Pierre-Mendès-France in Tunis. At age 13–14 she was discovered through family connections in the film world and cast as the young lead Alia in Moufida Tlatli’s landmark Tunisian film The Silences of the Palace (Samt El Qosour 1994). The film won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes and established her early reputation; she received the Best Actress award at the Carthage Film Festival. She then paused acting to focus on her education.

CAREER

After completing her law studies, Sabry returned to acting with Tlatli’s The Season of Men (Mawsem El Rejal, 2000), which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. Her Egyptian breakthrough came with Inas El-Degheidy’s controversial Diary of a Teenager (Mozakerat Moraheqah, 2001), which addressed teenage sexuality and became a commercial success despite debate. She quickly became a leading figure in Egyptian and Arab cinema, starring in major films including: A Citizen, a Detective and a Thief (Daoud Abdel Sayed, 2001) The Yacoubian Building (Marwan Hamed, 2006) The Island / El Gezirah (2007) and its sequel Ibrahim Labyad (2009) Asmaa (Amr Salama, 2011) The Blue Elephant 2 (2019) Noura’s Dream (2019, Tunisia) Kira & El Gin (2022) Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania, 2023) On television she scored a regional hit with the comedy-drama I Want to Get Married (Ayza Atgawez, 2010). She later executive-produced and starred in the Netflix reboot Finding Ola (2022 and Season 2, 2024), which topped charts in the Arab world. Other notable series include Halawat Al Dounia, Moftaraq Toroq (Crossroads, the Arabic adaptation of The Good Wife, 2024), and the 2026 series Manna’a (Immunity). In 2015 she founded Salam Production. She has also worked as a writer and has been vocal about gender inequality in Arab cinema (pay gaps, fewer strong female roles, unequal exposure). In 2019 she became the first Arab woman to receive the Starlight Cinema Award at the Venice Film Festival and later served on the Venice jury. In 2025 she received the Omar Sharif Award from the Golden Globes at the Red Sea Film Festival.

PERSONAL LIFE

Sabry was previously engaged to Syrian actor Bassel Khaiat. In 2008 she married Egyptian businessman Ahmad (Ahmed) el Sherif. The couple lives in Cairo and has two daughters, Alia (elder) and Laila. She holds dual Tunisian-Egyptian citizenship and is based primarily in Egypt while maintaining strong ties to Tunisia.

Sabry is also a trained lawyer (registered with the Tunisian bar) specializing in intellectual property—knowledge she has applied to her producing work. From 2010 she served as a UN World Food Programme (WFP) Goodwill Ambassador against hunger; she resigned in November 2023, citing the organization’s response to the situation in Gaza. She has been involved in women’s rights advocacy, including the “Uprising of Women in the Arab World” campaign. She continues to balance commercial Egyptian blockbusters with socially conscious Tunisian and independent projects, remaining one of the most respected and bankable actresses in the Arab world.