Adel Imam is the most famous actor in Egypt and the Arab world. Throughout his rich career in theatre, cinema and television, he played comedic roles that have been mixed with political, romantic and social issues and was called the modern-day Arab Charlie Chaplin.
On the occasion of his 81st birthday this month, we go through his personal and artistic life, documenting his important lifetime phases and his most outstanding career achievements.
Imam was born on May 17, 1940, in the village of Sheha, Mansoura, Dakahlia Governorate in Egypt, and graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University. His father, Muhammad Imam, was a great comedian, although he worked in the Ministry of the Interior, and Adel inherited his comic genius from him.
The Egyptian star had been in love with acting since his childhood. In high school, he joined the school's acting team. Though Adel Imam did not study theater or cinema, he developed his talent and bought many books on theater and art history to know more about the field he loved. Imam began his artistic career at the university theater and in 1962, he presented his first play, "I, he, and she ".
His fame started in the seventies after performing in more plays and reached a high in 1973 when he starred in the play "School of the rioters" which is one of the most famous Arab plays among different generations.
This was followed by his roles in successful plays such as "A witness who has not seen anything" in 1975, "Al-Wad Sayed Al-Shaghal" in 1984, "Al-Zaeem" in 1993 and "Body Guard" in 1999 in which presented dictatorial rule of governments humorously.
In the eighties, he went from theater to cinema to introduce more than 100 films that combine drama, politics, comedy and romance and became one of the actors who people bought tickets to watch.
In the beginning of the nineties, his films took on the social and political theme that reflects the interests of the ordinary man in the street in the Egyptian and Arab society in a comic manner.
Through his famous movies, "Terrorism and the Kebab" in 1992 and "The Terrorist" in 1994 he denounced religious extremism and terrorism. Because of these roles, he was subjected to lawsuits and was sentenced twice to prison, but he was acquitted by paying bail more than once because of some claim that his roles contain insulting and incorrect insinuations to Islam.
Adel Imam continued to present successful movies such as "The Embassy in the building" 2005, "The Jacobian Building" in 2006, which is the highest budget film in the history of Egyptian cinema that depicts contemporary Egyptian life in an old residential building.
Then, he returned to television with a social comedy series, which met with great popularity such as "Nagy Atallah Squad" in 2012, "Saheb El Saa'da" in 2014, "Hidden Worlds" in 2018 and the last one “Valentino" in 2020.
Imam was appointed a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in January 2000. He also expressed his solidarity with the refugees, addressing a wide audience in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf region.
The Egyptian actor has won many Egyptian, Arab and international awards such as The Best Actor Award for the year 1995 for “The Terrorist” from the Cairo Film Festival, Award from the International Jury for Best Actor for the year 2006 for the film "The Jacobian Building” from the São Paulo International Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award from the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival and Creative Achievement Award in the first edition of the El Gouna Festival for the year 2017.
Imam is married to Hala Shalakani, the sister of the late artist Mustafa Metwally. They have a daughter, Sarah, and two sons, Rami and Mohammed. Rami Imam is a director and producer, and Mohamed Imam is an actor.
From his most famous sayings: "I am not a star, nor a leader of any kind, there are no leaders in art, and all I want is to use my talent to make people's lives better, even a small measure."
