Nadine Nassib Njeim ( ar, نادين نسيب نجيم; born 7 February 1984) is a Lebanese Tunisian actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was elected

Miss Lebanon Miss Lebanon ( ar, ملكة جمال لبنان, Malikat Jamāl Lubnān, Queen of Beauty of Lebanon) is the national beauty pageant in Lebanon. The current Miss Lebanon is Yasmina Zaytoun who was crowned on 24 July 2022. History Miss Lebanon ha ...

2004. She represented her home country in

Miss Universe 2005 Miss Universe 2005 was the 54th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Impact Arena in Nonthaburi Province, Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand on May 31, 2005,. At the end of the event, Jennifer Hawkins of Australia crowned Natalie Glebova of ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. As of 2021, she is the most followed Lebanese actress on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

with more than 12 million followers.

Background

Njeim was born in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

to a Lebanese Maronite Christian father, Nassib Njeim, originally from Duris, and a Tunisian Muslim mother. She married Hady Asmar and together they have two children, a daughter and a son. She divorced Asmar in September 2019.

Post-pageant career

Since passing on her title

, Njeim has pursued a career in acting, and has been cast in ''Law'' and ''Cello'', Samra, 3eshk El Nesa, Nos Yawm,

Al Hayba ''Al Hayba'' ( ar, الهيبة) is an Arabic drama television series directed by Samer Al Barkawi and produced by Ziad El Khatib It has 5 seasons; and Taim Hasan, named "Jabal Sheikh Al Jabal" is the lead character in all 5 seasons. The ser ...

, Tareeq, Khamse w Noss and 2020. She was the first Arab actress nominated to

Seoul International Film Festival Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

for Best Actress for her performance in Samra. She discusses her professionalism in acting and films such as ''Sorry Mom''.

Social views and controversy

In 2016, Njeim's views on

premarital sex Premarital sex is Human sexual activity, sexual activity which is practiced by people before they are Marriage, married. Premarital sex is considered a sin by a number of religions and also considered a Sexual mores, moral issue which is taboo i ...

and

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

, expressed in a 2012 interview on

Future TV Future Television ( ar, تلفزيون المستقبل, ''Televiziyon al-Mustaqbal'') was a Lebanese free-to-air television station founded in 1993 by the Future Movement leader Rafik Hariri, a former Prime Minister of Lebanon. Future TV was als ...

, rose to relevancy since many found them to be controversial. She said, inter alia: "I want women to stay women. If they equate me with a man, I’d feel like a man. I don’t want to. I want to stay a woman." In response to the backlash she received, Njeim stated in another interview that she believes the content of the resurfaced clip had been purposely edited to discredit her. She said she supported

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and that her message promoted

. Njeim starred in series one of

, but not in seasons 2 and 3 because her role as a woman on the show conformed to gender stereotypes and she wanted her character to be more physically active.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Njeim, Nadine 1984 births Actresses from Beirut Lebanese beauty pageant winners Lebanese female models Lebanese television actresses Lebanese Maronites Lebanese socialites Lebanese people of Tunisian descent Living people Miss Universe 2005 contestants Miss World 2004 delegates Lebanese American University alumni