1932 -

Egyptian movie star.

The son of a wealthy merchant of Lebanese descent, Omar (also Umar) Sharif was born Michel Chalhoub on 10 April 1932. Educated at Victoria College in Alexandria, he converted from Christianity to Islam and changed his name to Omar Sharif before making his Egyptian film debut in The Blazing Sun in 1953. Between 1953 and 1958, he appeared in twenty-four Arabic-language films. On the set of his first film, Sharif became bored during the long pauses between his scenes and took up the game of bridge to while away the time. Sharif became internationally known after playing a lead role in the film Lawrence of Arabia, a part for which he received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. Sharif has appeared in many English-language films, including Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He won the Golden Lion lifetime achievement award for fifty years in films in 2003 after a comeback in the film Mr. Ibrahim, in which he plays the role of an old Arab man in Paris who adopts a young Jewish boy. He also pursued his interest in bridge, becoming one of the world's leading authorities on the game and authoring several books on the subject.

Bibliography

Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia. New York: Crowell, 1979.

— DAVID WALDNER
UPDATED BY ROXANNE VARZI

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.