PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Hiam Abbass
Hiam Abbass
هيام عباس‎; היאם עבאס‎
	Abbass at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Born	30 November 1960 (age 64); Nazareth, Israel
Citizenship	Israel; France;
Occupations	Actress; film director;
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Zinedine Soualem (divorced)
Children	2

Hiam Abbass (Arabic: هيام عباس; Hebrew: היאם עבאס; born 30 November 1960), also spelled Hiyam Abbas, is a Palestinian actress and film director with Israeli and French citizenship.^[2] She is known for her roles in films such as The Syrian Bride (2004), Paradise Now (2005), Free Zone (2005), Munich (2005), The Visitor (2007), Lemon Tree (2008), Insyriated (2017), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). She gained prominence for her role as Marcia Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023). She has also acted in the Channel 4 series The Promise (2011), the Lifetime miniseries The Red Tent (2014), the Hulu comedy series Ramy (2019–present), and the Hulu drama series The Old Man (2022).

Early and personal life

Abbass was born on 30 November 1960 to a family of Muslim Arabs in Nazareth, Israel,^[3]^[4] and was raised in the nearby village of Deir Hanna. Since the late 1980s, she has lived in Paris, France,^[5] and holds French citizenship.

During the filming of the Steven Spielberg film Munich (2005), Abbass lived in a hotel with Israeli and Palestinian 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."^[2]

Film career

Abbass is known for her roles in Red Satin (2002), Haifa (1996), Paradise Now (2005), The Syrian Bride (2004), Free Zone (2005), Dawn of the World (2008), The Visitor (2008), Lemon Tree (2008), Every Day Is a Holiday (2009), and Amreeka (2009). She appeared in Spielberg's film Munich, depicting the response to the Munich massacre, and also served as a dialect and acting consultant.^[2]

She directed two short films, Le Pain (2001), and La Danse éternelle (2004). She portrays humanitarian Hind al-Husseini in Julian Schnabel's film Miral (2010), based on the life of Husseini and her orphanage.

In 2002, she appeared in Satin Rouge by Raja Amari, a film about the self-discovery of a middle aged Tunisian widow.^[6] She also a similar role in The Syrian Bride, about a Druze 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's movie The Visitor, and the mother of an Iraqi soldier in Abbas Fahdel's film Dawn of the World.

In the same year she could be seen in Pomegranates and Myrrh as Umm Habib, the owner of a beleaguered café.

Also in 2008, she played the principal role in Israeli director Eran Riklis's film Lemon Tree (Etz Limon in Hebrew). For this role, she won Best Performance by an Actress at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In Jim Jarmusch's 2009 film The Limits of Control, in the role of Driver, she recites in Classical Arabic one of the film's leitmotif-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-Israeli film produced by Thierry Binisti. It is based upon the young adult novel Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza by Valérie Zenatti. 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.^[7] She made her directorial feature film debut with The Inheritance in 2012.

In 2017, she played Freysa, the head of the replicant freedom movement, in Blade Runner 2049.

Abbass has also acted in TV shows such as The Promise (2011), The State (2017), Succession (2018–2023), and Ramy (2019–present).

In 2023, Abbass starred in the documentary film Bye Bye Tiberias which follows her decision to pursue her dream of becoming actress, directed by her daughter, Lina Soualem.^[8] It premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival and screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Filmography

As actor

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	When the Cat's Away	Woman in the courtyard
1996	Haifa	Oum Said
1998	Raddem		Short
	Vivre au paradis
	Histoire naturelle		Short
2000	Ali, Rabiaa et les autres	Rabiaa
2001	Ligne 208	Khaled's Mother
	Le pain		Short
	Le mariage en papier	Aunt Rabiaa	Short
	Tar Angel (L'ange de goudron)	Naïma Kasmi
2002	Fais-moi des vacances	Lucien & José's Mother
	Satin Rouge	Lilia
	A Loving Father	Salma
2003	Noctambules	Lonely Woman	Short
2004	The Gate of Sun	Um Youness
	The Syrian Bride	Amal
	Nadia et Sarra	Nadia
2005	Paradise Now	Said's Mother
	Sur les traces de Mélanie	Madelaine	Short
	Free Zone	Leila
	Le démon de midi	Rim
	Munich	Marie Claude Hamshari	Also consultant and dialog coach
2006	Petites révélations
	Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest	Jénane's Voice
	The Nativity Story	Anna
2007	Conversations with My Gardener	The gardener's wife
	Disengagement	Hiam
	The Visitor	Mouna
2008	La fabrique des sentiments	Professor Sterne
	Lemon Tree	Salma Zidane
	Un roman policier	Fati
	Dawn of the World	Mastour's mother
	Fatoush	The woman	Short
	Kandisha	Mona Bendrissi
	Al-mor wa al rumman (Pomegranates and Myrrh)	Umm Habib
	Blanche	The neighbour	Short
2009	Amreeka	Raghda Halaby
	Espion(s)	Wafa
	Human Zoo	Mina
	The Limits of Control	The Driver
	Persécution	Marie
	Chaque jour est une fête	Hala
2010	Suite parlée	The Ants
	Clichés		Short
	Miral	Hind al-Husseini
	Le temps de la balle	Hana	Short
	Habibti	Iman	Short
2011	The Source	Fatima
	Do Not Forget Me Istanbul
	A Bottle in the Gaza Sea	Intessar
2012	Le sac de farine	Yasmine
2012	Inheritance	Samira
2013	Les jeux des nuages et de la pluie	Blanche
	May in the Summer	Nadine
	Rock the Casbah	Aicha
	Samarkande	The Death	Short
	Peace After Marriage	Amani
2014	De guerre lasse	Raïssa
	Nothing Escapes My Eyes	Women	Short
	Exodus: Gods and Kings	Bithiah
2015	Dégradé	Eftikhar
2015	The Sense of Wonder	Dr. Mélanie Ferenza
2017	Blade Runner 2049	Freysa
2017	Insyriated	Oum Yazan
2020	Gaza mon amour	Siham
2022	Hellraiser	Serena Menaker	^[12]
2023	Insidious: The Red Door	Professor Armagan
2023	Bye Bye Tiberias	Herself	Documentary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	La nuit miraculeuse		Television movie
1993	Antoine Rives, juge du terrorisme	Jacqueline Tabet	Episode: "L'affaire JBN"
1994	3000 scénarios contre un virus	A client	Episode: "Poisson rouge"
1998	Venise est une femme	Aïcha's Mother	Television movie
2000	Mix-cité		Television movie
2003	Pierre et Farid	Farid's Mother	Television movie
2008	Béthune sur Nil	Farah	Television movie
2010	Histoires de vies	Zineb	Episode: "Des intégrations ordinaires"
2010	I Am Slave	Laila	Television movie
2011	The Promise	Old Jawda	4 episodes
2014	The Red Tent	Queen Re-Nefer	Miniseries
2016	The OA	Khatun	Episodes: "Homecoming" and "Away"
2017	The State	Umm Salamah	4 episodes
2018–2023	Succession	Marcia Roy	23 episodes
2019–present	Ramy	Maysa Hassan	22 episodes
2022	Oussekine	Aïcha Oussekine	4 episodes
2022	The Old Man	Abbey Chase	5 episodes

As director

Year	Title	Notes
2001	Le pain	Short film
2004	La danse éternelle	Short film; also writer
2012	Inheritance	Also writer
2013	Le Donne della Vucciria	Short film; also co-writer
2015	Jerusalem, I Love You

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Project	Result
2004	Ophir Award	Best Actress	Syrian Bride	Nominated
2005	Ophir Award	Best Supporting Actress	Free Zone	Nominated
2005	European Film Award	People's Choice Award	Syrian Bride	Nominated
2008	European Film Award	Best Actress	Lemon Tree	Nominated
2008	Boston Society of Film Critics	Best Ensemble	The Visitor	Nominated
2008	Gotham Awards	Best Ensemble Cast	The Visitor	Nominated
2016	Lumières Award	Best Actress	Insyriated	Nominated
2023	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Succession	Nominated