Gina Dirawi ( ar, غنا ديراوي; born 11 December 1990) is a Swedish

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

, singer-songwriter, radio personality,

blogger A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. While she is best known as the first woman ever to host

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

on three occasions, she has also hosted several other television and radio shows. She has also released music and played the lead role in the play "Donna Juanita" on Stadsteatern in Stockholm.

Personal life

Dirawi was born on 11 December 1990 in

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. History Th ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, the second of four children. She is of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

descent and her family comes from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Dirawi's paternal grandparents convinced her father to move to Sweden. After eventually moving to Sundsvall to study, he returned to Lebanon to marry Dirawi's mother. Her parents settled in Sundsvall, as did her paternal grandparents who moved to the city a couple of years later. Her grandfather was an

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

in Sundsvall until his death in March 2011.

Career

Dirawi began her career in March 2009, with her blog Ana Gina, and by August of the same year began

vlogging A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in ...

. Her vlog included satirical depictions of recurring characters from Swedish and Palestinian culture. She continued to gain popularity by sharing videos on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, where her videos have over 18 million views as of May 2016. Dirawi is best known as the first woman ever to host

on three occasions: in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

alongside

Helena Bergström Helena Kristina Bergström Nutley (born 5 February 1964) is a Swedish actress and film director. From an acting family, she began her career in 1982. She has appeared on the stages of the Royal Dramatic Theatre (''Dramaten'') and the Stockho ...

and

Sarah Dawn Finer Sarah Dawn Finer (born 14 September 1981) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and actress. Her father is of English heritage from the United Kingdom, her mother is Jewish from the United States, and she was born and raised in Sweden. As a student, s ...

, in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

alongside

Danny Saucedo Daniel Gabriel Alessandro Saucedo Grzechowski (born 25 February 1986), known professionally as Danny Saucedo or simply Danny, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as one of the finalists in ''Idol 2006'', the Swedish version of '' ...

and in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

with guest co-hosts in each show. She won the award for best female TV host at the

Kristallen Kristallen (meaning The Crystal) is the official Swedish television award, administered by the foundation . It was created in 2005 by television producers SVT, TV3, TV4, Kanal 5 and UR. The trophy The award trophy, created by Mårten Cla ...

in 2012 and 2013. Dirawi also hosted the Swedish Grammy Awards in 2014 and 2015, as well as ''

Musikhjälpen ''Musikhjälpen'' (; "Music Aid") is the Swedish version of the Dutch '' Serious Request'' radio and television campaign. The annual show is an appeal for money which each year helps a certain cause. Three radio/television personalities are locke ...

'' in 2011, 2012 and 2015, the same year she hosted SVT's traditional Christmas Eve programme. It was announced on 20 April 2016 that Dirawi will be the Swedish spokesperson at the annual

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, announcing the results of the Swedish jury vote from ''Eurovision: The Party'' in the

Tele2 Arena The Stockholmsarenan, known as the Tele2 Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov, just south of Stockholm City Centre, Sweden. It is used mostly for concerts and football m ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. She also hosted ''Studio Eurovision'', a series of three one-hour shows broadcast before the two semi-finals and the final, covering news and events from the contest. She co-hosted Idol 2017 along with

Pär Lernström Pär Hugo Gustav Lernström, born 4 September 1980, is a Swedish television presenter, perhaps best known for presenting the Swedish Idol series on TV4. He has worked for SR Stockholm, Utbildningsradion, MTV:s morningshow "Mycket mer än müsli" ...

, she also hosted it in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. 2019 SVT released the documentary "What Happened to Gina Dirawi" by Jane Magnusson. A story about how Gina Dirawi had to live with security and protection during her time as the biggest tv-host in Sweden, due to severe death-threats from nazi-groups. 2020 and 2021 she hosted the alternative Nobel prize, "Right livelihood award". 2022 she hosted Swedish equivalent to the Oscars, Guldbaggegalan. 2020 she realised her first novel "Paradiset ligger under mammas fötter", pubilished with Norstedts. 2022 she released her first studio album "Meet Me In Jannah", produced by Björn Yttling and Freja Drakenberg. Discography dit source

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dirawi, Gina 1990 births Living people People from Sundsvall Swedish people of Palestinian descent 21st-century Swedish comedians Swedish women comedians Swedish television hosts Swedish women television presenters Swedish bloggers Swedish women bloggers Swedish radio presenters Swedish women radio presenters