Amina Nour el Din
(b. 1910)
Born in Alexandria, she developed an interest in acting when she was still a pupil in one of the city’s many French Nuns’ schools, frequently taking part in school productions. She also took piano lessons, a practice quite common then, and she soon became an accomplished player.
She held a job working with the Polish Embassy in Cairo where she moved after her father’s death, to live in the custody of her uncle. In 1953 she joined the prestigious National Theatre of Cairo where she took part in a production of a Molière translation acting alongside Raqia Ibrahim. She also joined the Tali’a Theatre Group travelling with them to Palestine and Iraq in 1944.
In 1953 she joined Alexandrian singer Laure Dakkash and theatre artist Zaki Toleimat on a trip to Tunisia for the inauguration of the National Theatre of Tunis. There she performed in The Merchant of Venice to great critical acclaim for her portrayal of Portia.
She stopped acting in 1955 never to return to the scene again. She will continue to be remembered for a series of roles as the polished young woman, often of aristocratic descent, and sometimes as the house wrecker with ulterior motives. Her lean figure and emancipated manner, quite different from the regular image of the typical oriental female, also cast her in the part of the Egyptian of mixed background which may have contributed to the genre she was typecast in.
Filmography:
1937: Omar and Gamila (‘Omar we Gamîlah)
1942: Lost in Thought (el Charîd)
1942: The Accused (el Moutahamah)
1943: Daughter of Sheikh (Bint el Cheikh)
1943: The Call of the Heart (Nidâ’ el Qalb)
1945: Bin Narin (Bin Nârîn)
1945: The Honeymoon (Chaher el ‘asal)
1946: The Unknown Past (el Mâdî el Maghoul)
1946: Back to What She Was (‘Adat ela Qwa’edha)
1953: Conspiracy (Mou’amrah)
1954: And the Jours have Passed (We maret el ayâm)
1955: Confessions of a Wife (I’tirafât Zawgah)
