Mona Wassef

February 9, 1942 — Damascus, First Syrian Republic [now Syria]

Mona Wassef is a Syrian film and theatre actress who was born in Damascus in 1942. She is considered an icon in Arab cinema and a role model for many artists and has earned numerous nicknames including, “The First Star of Syria,” “Star of the Arab World,” and “Lady of the Syrian Screen.” Wassef's most famous early role was as Hind in the 1976 film “Al Ressala” (The Message) about the life of the prophet Mohammed. She has played the role of Bassam Kousa’s mother more than ten times in cinema and on television. In 2009, Wassef became the first Syrian woman to receive the Syrian Order of Merit-Excellent Degree. She has starred in more than 25 plays and 30 films, has appeared in nearly 200 television series and has received multiple life achievement awards from the Damascus Film Festival, Alexandria Film Festival and the International Arab Film Festival in Oran. She was married to the late director Mohammed Shaheen and they have one son, Ammar.