Nadine Labaki

Lebanese actress, director and activist (born 1974)

Nadine Labaki is a Lebanese and Canadian actress, director, and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her filmmaking career began in 2007 after the release of her debut film, Caramel, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She is known for demonstrating everyday aspects of Lebanese life and covering a range of political issues such as war, poverty, and feminism. She is the first female Arab director to be nominated for an Oscar in the category for Best Foreign Language Film for her third directorial effort, Capernaum (2018).

Labaki was born in Baabdat, Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, to Maronite parents Antoine and Antoinette Labaki. Her father is an engineer, while her mother is a homemaker. She spent the first seventeen years of her life living in a war-torn environment, until 1991 when the civil war in Lebanon had ended. Early in life, she learned the art of storytelling from her uncle, who was the family hakawati (storyteller). Her grandfather also owned a small theatre in Lebanon where she found her love for film. She began her career with Studio El Fan, a Lebanese talent show, in 1990. The show aired during the 1970s, which continued through to the early 2000s. At the talent show, Labaki won a prize for directing various music video productions.

Seeking safety from the war in Lebanon, Labaki spent three years in Montreal beginning around 1989, and she obtained Canadian citizenship.

Labaki obtained a degree in audiovisual studies at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. In 1997, she directed her graduation film, 11 Rue Pasteur, which won the Best Short Film Award at the Biennale of Arab Cinema at the Arab World Institute in Paris. Labaki is unique among her fellow Lebanese and Arab filmmakers in that she was not educated or trained abroad.

In 1998, she attended a workshop in acting at the Cours Florent in Paris. With her sister Caroline Labaki as executive producer, she went on to direct advertisements and music videos for renowned Middle Eastern singers, for which she won several awards. Striving to portray contemporary Lebanese woman, she "created examples of Lebanese women who were very at ease in their bodies."