Darina Al Joundi is a Lebanese-born stage actor. She became a French citizen after Prime Minister

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (, , ; born 13 August 1962) is a French-Spanish politician who has served as a Barcelona city councillor from 2019 to 2021. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president François Hol ...

read a review of her performance at the 2012

Avignon Festival The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...

and decided to speed up her application. She has promoted women's rights for the French government.

Early life

Darina Al Joundi was born circa 1969. Her father, Hassem Al Joundi, was a Syrian author and politician. She grew up in a Muslim family and attended Catholic schools. After she was sent to a psychiatric hospital run by nuns in Jounieh, she decided to emigrate to France.

Career

Al Joundi became an actress in France. She co-wrote ''Le jour où Nina Simone a cessé de chanter'', a one-woman show about her struggle to obtain French citizenship, with Algerian playwright

Mohamed Kacimi Mohamed Kacimi (born 1955) is an Algerian novelist and playwright. Early life Mohamed Kacimi was born in 1955 in El Hamel, French Algeria. He was raised as a Muslim, and he attended both French and Islamic schools as Zawiyet El Hamel. He emig ...

. Her performance at the 2012

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...

received good reviews from theatre critics. After Prime Minister

read an article about her in ''

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

'' in 2012, he decided to speed up her application for French citizenship. On September 27, 2012, Al Joundi was invited to speak at the French Ministry of Women's Rights by Minister

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (; ar, link=no, نجاة فالو بلقاسم; Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⵊⴰⵜ ⴱⵍⵇⴰⵙⵎ; born 4 October 1977) is a former Moroccan-French jurist and politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who was the first Fre ...

alongside the editor-in-chief of ''Marie-Claire'', Catherine Durand.

Works

Filmography

References

External links

* Living people 1960s births French people of Syrian descent Lebanese people of Syrian descent Lebanese emigrants to France Lebanese stage actresses French stage actresses French women's rights activists {{France-actor-stub