Hiam Abbass ( ar, هيام عباس, he, היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also Hiyam Abbas, is a

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 ...

actress and film director.

Personal life

Hiam Abbass was born in Nazareth, Israel, to a

Muslim Arab Arab Muslims ( ar, العرب المسلمون) are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Arabs. Arab Muslims greatly outnumber other ethnoreligious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. Arab M ...

family. She was raised in the village of

Deir Hanna Deir Hanna ( ar, دير حنا, he, דֵיר חַנָּא) is a local council in the Northern District of Israel, located on the hills of the Lower Galilee, southeast of Acre. In it had a population of . Approximately 90% of Deir Hanna's inha ...

. Since the late 1980s, she has lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and holds French citizenship. During the filming of the

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

film ''

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

'' (2005), Abbass lived in a hotel with the Palestinian Arab and Israeli actors for three months. During that time, they had many discussions that "helped both sides grow closer." In an interview in 2006, Abbass said, "I still remember how difficult it was for the Arab actors to manhandle the Israeli actors in the first scene where the Israeli national team is taken hostage."

Film career

Abbass is known for her roles in ''

Red Satin ''Red Satin'' also known as ''Satin Rouge'' (french: Satin rouge) is a 2002 Tunisian Arabic-language women oriented drama film written and directed by Raja Amari on her feature film directorial debut. The film stars Palestinian actress Hiam Abba ...

'' (2002), ''

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

'' (1996), ''

Paradise Now ''Paradise Now'' ( ar, الجنّة الآن, al-Janna al-ʾāna) is a political and psychological drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Israel. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best ...

'' (2005), ''

The Syrian Bride ''The Syrian Bride'' ( he, הכלה הסורית) is a 2004 film directed by Eran Riklis. The story deals with a Druze wedding and the troubles the politically unresolved situation creates for the personal lives of the people in and from the vill ...

'' (2004), '' Free Zone'' (2005), ''

Dawn of the World ''Dawn of the World'' is a feature film written and directed by the Iraqi-French film director Abbas Fahdel. Starring Venice Film Festival revelation Hafsia Herzi (''The Secret of the Grain'') and Hiam Abbass ('' The Lemon Tree'', '' The Visit ...

'' (2008), '' The Visitor'' (2008), '' Lemon Tree'' (2008), ''

Every Day is a Holiday "Every Day Is a Holiday" is a song written and recorded by American singer Katy Perry. Produced by Duke Dumont, the song was released on November 23, 2015 as part of H&M's holiday campaign along with a promotional commercial directed by Jonas � ...

'' (2009) and ''

Amreeka ''Amreeka'' is a 2009, independent film written and directed by first-time director Cherien Dabis. It stars Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Joseph Ziegler, and Miriam Smith. ''Amreeka'' documents the ...

'' (2009). In Spielberg's film, depicting the response to the

Munich Massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

, she also served as a dialect and acting consultant. She directed two short films, ''Le Pain'' (2001), and ''La Danse éternelle'' (2004). She portrays humanitarian

Hind al-Husseini Hind al-Husseini ( ar, هند الحسيني) (April 25, 1916 in Jerusalem – September 13, 1994 in Jerusalem) was a Palestinian woman notable for rescuing 55 orphaned survivors of the Deir Yassin massacre, after they were dropped off in Jer ...

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

's film ''

Miral ''Miral'' is a 2010 biographical political film directed by Julian Schnabel about the coming of age of a Palestinian girl named Miral who grows up in the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and finds herself drawn into the conflict. The screenpla ...

'' (2010), based on the life of Husseini and her orphanage. In 2002, she appeared in '' Satin Rouge'' by

Raja Amari Raja Amari (born 4 April 1971) is a Tunisian film director and script writer. She is best known for her films ''Satin Rouge/ Red Satin'' (2002), and '' Dowaha/Les Secrets/Buried Secrets'' (2009), both of which have earned international awards and ...

, a film about the self-discovery of a middle aged Tunisian widow. She also a similar role in ''The Syrian Bride'', about a

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

woman eager to break down barriers. Abbass appeared in the French films ''Le sac de farine'' and ''Le temps de la balle''. In 2008, she played the mother of an illegal Syrian immigrant in

Tom McCarthy Thomas McCarthy (also Tom and Tommy) may refer to: Academia *Thomas A. McCarthy (born 1940), American professor of philosophy *Thomas J. McCarthy (born 1956), American professor of polymer chemistry at the University of Massachusetts *J. Thomas Mc ...

's movie '' The Visitor'', and the mother of an Iraqi soldier in

Abbas Fahdel Abbas Fadhel (Arabic عباس فاضل) is an Iraqi-French film director, screenwriter and film critic, born in Babylon, Iraq. Based in France since the age of 18 years, he studied cinema at the Sorbonne University until Ph.D. In January 2002, ...

's film ''

''. Also in 2008, she played the principal role in Israeli director

Eran Riklis Eran Riklis ( he, ערן ריקליס; born October 2, 1954) is an Israeli filmmaker. His films include ''Cup Final'' (1991), '' The Syrian Bride'' (2004), ''Lemon Tree'' (2008) and '' Dancing Arabs'' (also known as ''A Borrowed Identity'') (20 ...

's film '' Lemon Tree'' (''Etz Limon'' in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

). For this role, she won Best Performance by an Actress at the 2008

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

. In Jim Jarmusch's 2009 film ''

The Limits of Control ''The Limits of Control'' is a 2009 American film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, starring Isaach de Bankolé as a solitary assassin, carrying out a job in Spain. Filming began in February 2008, and took place on location in Madrid, Seville a ...

'', in the role of Driver, she recites in

Classical Arabic Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...

one of the film's

leitmotif A leitmotif or leitmotiv () is a "short, recurring musical phrase" associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical concepts of ''idée fixe'' or ''motto-theme''. The spelling ''leitmotif'' is an anglici ...

-phrases, "He who thinks he is bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery. There he will see what life really is." Abbass also appears in '' A Bottle in the Gaza Sea'' (2011), a French-Québecois-Israeli film produced by Thierry Binisti. It is based upon the young adult novel ''Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza'' by

Valérie Zenatti Valérie Zenatti (born 1 April 1970, in Nice) is a French writer, translator and screenwriter. Biography Her novel, ' enjoyed a critical and public success and - after being selected in the final prix Médicis and prix des libraires – was a ...

. She plays the role of Naïm's mother. In 2012, she was named as a member of the Jury for the Main Competition at the

2012 Cannes Film Festival The 65th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2012. Italian film director Nanni Moretti was the President of the Jury for the main competition and British actor Tim Roth was the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section. ...

. She made her directorial feature film debut with '' The Inheritance'' in 2012. In 2017 she played Freysa, the head of the

replicant A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel ''Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intellig ...

freedom movement, in ''

Blade Runner 2049 ''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...

''. Abbass has also acted in four TV shows: ''The Promise'' (2011), ''The State'' (2017), '' Succession'' (2018-present), and '' Ramy'' (2019-present).

Filmography

Actress

Director

References

External links

*
G21 Interview: Hiam Abbass
by Brad Balfour

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbass, Hiam 1960 births Arab citizens of Israel Living people Israeli film actresses Palestinian film actresses People from Nazareth Israeli television actresses Palestinian television actresses Asia Pacific Screen Award winners