An hour with Egyptian rising starlet Salma Khattab

CAIRO – 13 July 2019: The rising Egyptian star Salma Khattab was chosen by veteran director Khaled Galal to participate in his latest play "Cinema Masr" (Egypt’s Cinema).

The picky director strongly believes in Khattab’s talent who, unlike other actresses, chose the toughest path and decided to launch her career on the stage, directly facing the audience, and depending only on her strong acting talent.

"Theater is my ultimate passion. Despite how scary it is to directly face the audience, the audience applauds and praises my performance on the spot, which makes me forget all about that fear.

Unlike the rest of her generation who chose the easy path through TV series or movies, Salma preferred to launch her career on the theater stage and managed to achieve a notable success because of her strong acting capabilities and her passion with the direct interaction with audience.

The theatrical actor gets the honest feedback they deserve. If you are a good actor, you will be praised; if not, you will be criticized. That’s why it is easy for the theatrical actor to act in a TV series or a movie, while the opposite is very hard," Khattab said.

Salma spent one and a half year in Galal’s workshop. According to Salma, Galal could help her express emotions and perform in a way she never knew she could. Salma managed to achieve a notable success because of her strong acting capabilities and her passion with the direct interaction with the audience.

"Khaled Galal is by all means a one of a kind director. His theatrical school strongly depends on improvising, as he gives us the main theme and the dialogue depends mainly on our improvisation, which triggers our creativity," Salma recounted.

During their drills, Galal used to ask Salma about a character that is so hard to perform, and made her perform it. "He wants to accentuate my confidence that I am a strong actor who can perform any role, and teach me new acting techniques. Khaled Galal usually adds a new glow to the actor," Salma said.

"Cinema Masr" starrs the new batch of the Art Creativity Center, where Salma is one the main stars. The first show will take place on Sunday, July 14 and will be attended by prominent stars and artists.

"Cinema Masr" focuses on the local cinema and the artists who enriched it throughout their careers. Galal chose a wide selection of scenes from Egyptian films of the golden era to be performed by Salma’s batch of the Creativity Center.

Numerous scenes are inspired by late actress Soad Hosny in “Khali Balak Mn Zozo” (Take Care of Zozo), late artist Taheya Karyoka in “Shabab Imra’a” (The Youth of a Woman ), late artist Fouad el-Mohandes, late international artist Omar Sharif, late actress Faten Hamama and many other legendary Egyptian artists that enriched the local cinema with their inspiring works and talents.

In "Cinema Masr", I perform different roles like Karima’s role in "El Shaka Men Haa’ el-Zoga" (The apartment is for the wife) which was performed by late great actress Maaly Zayed. I also perform a mother's role, in addition to comic characters that I perform for the first time," Salma added.

Khattab's acting talents first appeared when she was at school where she performed in some school plays as well as two short movies in the university. "My last play was ‘Hal el-Dafayer’ (Untangled) which achieved booming success," Khattab said.

Khattab honed her talent with workshops and studies as she took six acting workshops with big acting coaches like Khaled Galal and Marwa Gebriel, in addition to the Acting Syndicate workshop which contained an exam that khattab passed and managed to take the syndicate's license.

Besides being an actress, Khattab is a public relations expert and social media influencer. "I worked in about six ads as a model; it was a lovely experience because modeling depends on acting and I enjoy everything related to my main passion, which is acting."

Salma added that "Cinema Masr" will present about 200 shows. "The Egyptian theater is gradually returning to its old glow despite suffering in the past period from doldrums. After working with Galal and presenting 'Cinema Masr', I feel I have achieved my theatrical goals for now, and I will focus on TV drama and cinema in the coming period," Salma concluded.

In 2018, Salma made her debut in the series "Ladayna Akwal Okhra" (we have other testimonies) with Egyptian star Yousra, performing a role that grabbed the attention of the audience and achieved a well-deserved success.