Game of Thrones’ continent Westeros may have their Mother of Dragons, but Arab television has its mother of the Murex D’Or’s (a Lebanese award that recognises achivements in art): actress and beauty queen Nadine Njeim.
The elegant and fashion-forward actress captured our hearts in 2014’s Laow (What if?) TV series and drained our tears in 2015’s Cello. The 2004 Miss Lebanon has conquered both the beauty industry and the challenging on-screen narrative genre.
Njeim has taken home four Murex D’Or’s over the last decade, igniting a candle of Lebanese television prominence in the Middle East.
Speaking at a session during the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff), the actress spoke of the struggles she had to endure when transitioning from the pageant world to Arab drama.
“Beauty isn’t everything; talent is crucial to make it into acting or any industry,” she said, sitting poised and elegant “It was only after my Miss Universe days that I realised I had a talent for acting – I never thought I had it in me,” she said.
Further contradicting the “preppy princess” stereotype, Njeim glowed as she spoke about her former dream to embrace a world of business and numbers.
While one may assume Njeim’s talk on women’s empowerment was a classic pageant stunt in a Q&A, this advocator for Arab growth, beauty in perseverance and humbleness during success, genuinely urged for unity and mutual support in the entertainment industry. Make sure to keep your popcorn bowls ready in Ramadan 2018, because Njeim is making an appearance again in a new Drama series, Tareeq (The Road), which highlights the struggles of a young law student fighting to pursue a career dumbed down by the laws of class and gender.
— The Young Journalist Award (YJA) at Diff is a training programme for high school and university students who are aspiring writers and reporters. Seven students are competing at the festival this year. One winner will secure a monthlong internship with Gulf News.
