Nelly Karim

Nelly Karim is the daughter of a Soviet Russian mother from Leningrad and an Egyptian father from Zagazig. She said in an interview with the journalist Nishan that her beauty is pharaonic, not Russian, and that she resembles her father. She has one brother who is elder than her, his name is Ashraf who is a doctor and he migrated to the United States. She lived with her family in Russia till 16 years old but she spent summer school vacations with her family in Alexandria, Egypt.

Then, her family came to Egypt and her father died. Nelly has drawn notice for her 2006 refusal to portray "seductive roles". In 2016, she served as jury member for the Horizons section at the 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival. As of 2020, she has appeared in over 30 Egyptian films and TV series.