Carmen Lebbos

Carmen Lebbos
Born	Carmen Elias Lebbos (1963-02-22) 22 February 1963 Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	Lebanese
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Website	http://www.carmenlebbos.com/

Carmen Lebbos (Template:Lang-ar; born 22 February 1963) is a Lebanese actress who has worked in film, television and the theater since 1981. She has been in several television series and movies including Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Josef Fares’s Zozo.

Biography

Carmen Lebbos was born in Beirut to a working-class family.

At the age of 14, Carmen ran away from home and got married, in hopes of finding a sanctuary only to find herself in the worst prison ever! Coming from humble roots in Beirut, she was desperately seeking a spot in the so-called “showbiz”!

At the age of 12, she had the opportunity to be a part of a dance troupe due to her appealing height, but once again, the odds were not in her favor. Even though her father was a dance instructor, he extremely opposed the idea for it was a taboo at that time and a girl dancing in front of people would be regarded as contradicting the norms and traditions, so she had to turn away from what seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.

As soon as she turned 16, she set her mind to attend the Academy of Arts to study acting. At that time, she was searching for a place to stay, and in the midst of all that chaos, life threw another opportunity at her. That’s when she met Ziad Rahbani who showed her all the secrets and tricks she needed to know to become a “natural actress”. She absorbed and studied Ziad in the radio station, where she taught herself how to play with her voice and choose tones according to the situations and that’s merely by observing others. However, she still emphasizes on how her true mentor, Mr. Yaacoub Chedrawi, taught her the very basics of the theater, even though she always referenced her Russian idol Stanislavski’s book and considered him to be the greatest theater teacher of all times.

Late in the '80s, she was seriously considering moving to Paris in order to strengthen her acting knowledge and skills but found it rather impossible to live there all alone with her young baby.

In an interview discussing Ziad Rahbani Carmen maintained that he was simply the man she once loved, adding that "never, during all the 15 years of being together 24 hours a day, did I regard Ziad in the light other people saw him in. To me, he was the man I loved and lived with and drank coffee with every morning... And that is that.”

She played with Laura Ramsey a major role in Whatever Lola Wants directed by Nabil Ayouch, where she plays the role of a famous forgotten Egyptian dancer called Ismahan.

Movies

Name	Directed by	Year
[1][2]The Buried Secret	Ali Ghaffari	2015
Void (Waynoun)	[3]Naji Bechara, Jad Beiruty, [4]Zeina Makki, [5]Tarel Korkomaz	2013
[6]33 Days	[7]Jamal Shoorje	2012
[8]Chatti ya Dini	Bahij Hojeij	2010
Whatever Lola Wants	Nabil Ayouch	2008
Falling from Earth	[9]Chadi Zeneddine	2006
Zozo	Josef Fares	2005
In the Battlefields	Danielle Arbid	2004
Lila dit ça	Ziad Doueiri	2004
[10]Al-Tahaleb	[11]Raymond Boutros	2004
[[Batal Min Al-Janoub	[12]Mohamed Abou-Seif	2001
Civilisées	Randa Chahal Sabag	1999
West Beirut	Ziad Doueiri	1997