Yehia Chahine


Yehia Chahine was an Egyptian film producer and an actor of film and theatre. He is most notable for his role in the film adaptations of the Cairo Trilogy, a trilogy written by the Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz.

Life and career

Yehia Chahine was born in Imbaba, Giza. His father's name was Yehia Chahine too. He received a diploma in performing arts and started acting in theatre. His first performance was in the play Murtafa`t wa Darag. In 1935, he acted in his first film.
He acted in numerous films, but his most notable role is that of Al-Sayyid Ahmad Abd al-Jawad, a Cairene patriarch, in the Cairo Trilogy films. The three films, Bayn al-Qasrayn in 1964, Qasr al-Shawq in 1967 and Al-Sukkariya in 1973, were set in Cairo and followed the family of Abd al-Jawwad across three generations, from World War I to the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952. They were well received and successful in Egypt and the Arab world.
Additionally, he has acted in many other successful films. He starred in film director Youssef Chahine's Ibn al-Nile along with Faten Hamama in 1951. He played a leading role in the 1954 film Gaalouni Mujriman, which was based on a novel by Naguib Mahfouz. In 1957, he starred in La Anam, a film that was chosen as one of the best 150 Egyptian film productions. His last film role was in 1988, in the film Kul Hatha al-Hub.
Chahine received several awards for his film roles. In 1993, he received the Sciences and Arts prize. He died at the age of 76, on 18 March 1994.

Films