Saba Mubarak

Saba Mubarak is trailblazer star with a distinguished repertoire that includes a number of successful and internationally recognized works. From the Gulf, the Levant, Egypt and the Maghreb, Saba has won many titles and awards that reflect her ability to present the issues and conditions of Arab women with contemporary and historical variations in more than 60 works between cinema, TV and theater. Mubarak was born in Jordan to a Jordanian father and a Palestinian mother, Hanan Al-Agha, a writer, painter and poet. Saba was greatly influenced by her mother, who shaped her artistic personality and helped her set goals at an early age. She graduated from the faculty of Fine Arts at the Yarmouk University in Jordan where she studied Theatre and Directing. While still studying, Saba made her acting debut in the Jordanian play Al Sarkha (1996) and the TV drama Qamar W Sahar (1998). In 2003, Saba landed her first film role in the Jordanian film Travel of the Wings, followed by Out of Service, Mamlakat Al Naml (The Kingdom of Ants), and the award-winning film Transit Cities. In 2007, Mubarak starred in Al Ijtiyah (The Invasion) TV drama by director Shawqi Al Majri. The TV series won the International Emmy Award, becoming the first TV production in the Arab world to receive the prestigious award. Following her powerful performance as the Queen of Sheba in the historical TV drama Balqees (2009), produced by Dubai TV, Saba became one of the A-list actresses in the Arab film and TV industry. In 2010, Saba made her foray into Egyptian cinema through the film Bentein Min Masr. After that, she turned to Egyptian TV dramas, starring in Sharbat Louz, Mouga Harra (Heatwave), Asia, and Khalaf Allah, in addition to two seasons of Hekayat Banat, produced by MBC. In Ramadan 2016, Saba dazzled audiences with her performance of Dorria in director Mohammed Yassin's TV drama Afrah Al Qobba (Wedding Song), a role for which she received critical and audience acclaim. During Ramadan 2018, Saba played the lead role in director Amr Salama's TV series Tayea, alongside star Amr Youssef. For the first time, Saba played the role of a woman from Upper Egypt. Tayea was widely discussed on Twitter after the episode of her murder and the episode exceeded 5 million views on YouTube. On the international level, Saba starred in the Swedish action/thriller films Agent Hamilton: But Not If It Concerns Your Daughter and Hamilton: I Nationens Intresse, alongside star Mikael Persbrandt in 2012. Saba broke into the film production business by founding her production house Pan East Media in Dubai with the main objective of creating genuine Arab audio-visual content and presenting first-rate artistic works on both regional and international levels. The company's debut production is the film The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul by Turkish director Andaç Haznederoglu, where Mubarak stars playing a Syrian refugee on a journey from Turkey to Germany. Through Pan East Media, Saba produced Obour TV series, where she starred alongside a large number of Syrian and Jordanian stars and real-life refugees. Premiered on TV in Ramadan 2019, Obour shed light on the daily struggles of refugees through some real-life stories of those who joined El Wasl Refugee Camp in search of a better life. Saba's next TV series was the Jordanian drama Haris Al Jabal (The Mountain's Guardian) which aired during Ramadan 2020. The big-budget series marked Saba's return to the Bedouin drama in years. With her great ambition, Saba will soon be making her directorial debut. Mubarak received several awards and accolades, including the Special Jury Award at the Arab Theatre Festival, Best Actress Award at the Middle East Now Festival in Italy, two-time Best Jordanian Actress in 2009 and 2010, Dubai Drama Award for her role in Balqees, and the Jordanian Tyche Awards for Best Arab Actress in 2012. Most recently, Mubarak won the Best Actress Award at the Silk Road International Film Festival in Ireland for her role in The Guest: Aleppo-Istanbul that also won five other awards at international film festivals, including the Antalya Film Festival, Arab Film Festival in Korea, and the European Film Market (EFM), held as part of the Berlin International Film Festival. The film also screened at more than 10 international film festivals. Besides being an actress and producer, Mubarak has wide experience as a jury member at international film festivals. She was selected as a jury member of the International Emmy Awards for two times, a jury member of the Feature and Short Competitions at the Malmo Arab Film Festival in Sweden, a jury member at the 38th Cairo International Film Festival, as well as a jury member of the Short Film Competition at the 2nd El Gouna Film Festival in 2018. Her Majesty Queen Noor Al-Hussein honored Mubarak while attending the 37th International Arab Youth Congress (IAYC), organized by the National Centre for Culture and Arts (NCCA) in Jordan, as a guest of honor. Moreover, the feature film project Daughters of Adbulrahman by actress and producer Saba Mubarak and director Zaid Abu Hamdan won a production grant from the Jordan Film Fund (JFF), organized by The Royal Film Commission Jordan - RFC, as one of 13 cinematic projects. Recently, Saba finished working on the films Daughters of Adbulrahman by Zaid Abu Hamdan, which she co-produces along with Film Clinic, and Amira by director Mohamed Diab, which is written by the trio Mohamed, Khaled and Amira Diab and co-produced by several big Arab production companies.