Dina Shihabi (; born September 21, 1989) is a Saudi Arabian actress working in the United States.

Early life and education

Shihabi was born in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

, Saudi Arabia, and was raised in Saudi Arabia, Beirut, and Dubai. Her family is of Arab and European origin. She described her multi-ethnic background thus: "I consider myself Arab European because my father Ali Shihabi is half-Saudi, half-Norwegian, and my mom Nadia is half-Palestinian, half-German and Haitian, but raised in France." She stated that she enjoyed watching films from an early age. Shihabi's father is a commentator on Saudi politics and a former banker. He was the chairman of

Saudi Hollandi Bank The Alawwal Bank (), previously known as Saudi Hollandi Bank, was a Saudi Arabian bank based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was the first operating bank in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was founded in 1926 as a branch of the Netherlands Trading ...

Career

At age 11 she began taking dance lessons from Sharmila Kamte, a renowned dance teacher at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre Chaloub Studio, known as the "dancing queen" of the United Arab Emirates. She became a member of her modern professional dance team. In Dubai she attended Al Mawakeb School, Emirates International School, and Dubai American Academy. Shihabi performed in numerous school plays, and was encouraged by her teacher, Nancy Mock, to pursue an acting career. At age 18, Shihabi moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 2007 and began pursuing a career in acting; this became a full-time profession for her in 2010. She attended the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

for two years. In 2011, she was accepted at both

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

and The graduate Acting Program at NYU Tisch School for the Arts. Although Shihabi did not complete a 4-year bachelor's degree (she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, an Acting Conservatory from 2008 to 2010), NYU waived the requirement of a bachelor's degree, and she graduated with her MFA in 2014. She is the first Middle East-born woman to be accepted to both the Juilliard and NYU Graduate Acting programs, as well as the first Saudi Arabian woman accepted to these institutions. In February 2019, it was announced that Shihabi was cast in the main role of Dig 301 for the second season of Netflix's science-fiction series, '' Altered Carbon''.

Personal life

Dina enjoys dancing as a hobby. Shihabi's native Arabic dialect is a form of

Levantine Arabic Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shihabi, Dina 1989 births Living people People from Riyadh Saudi Arabian film actresses Saudi Arabian people of Palestinian descent Saudi Arabian people of Norwegian descent Saudi Arabian people of German descent Saudi Arabian people of Haitian descent Saudi Arabian expatriates in the United States