Elisa Sednaoui

Elisa Sednaoui (born 14 December 1987 in Bra, Piedmont, Italy) is a model, actress, philanthropist and film director of Italian, Egyptian, and French descent. She has appeared in such films as Eastern Drift,La Baie du renard, Bus Palladium,Les Gamins, and Remember Now, as well as in fashion campaigns for Chanel Eyewear, Giorgio Armani, Missoni and Roberto Cavalli. In 2013, she created the Elisa Sednaoui Foundation, dedicated to promoting creative learning, after-school initiatives for youngsters.

Family and Early Life

Sednaoui was born in Italy and raised between three countries, Egypt, Italy, and France. She spent much of her early life in Luxor. Her mother is of Italian heritage, while her father has Syrian-Egyptian and French roots. The Sednaoui family, a Melkite Greek Catholic family of Syrian descent, finds its roots in the city of Sednaya, which is where their surname originates from. The Sednaoui family migrated to Egypt at the end of the 19th century and developed successful department stores in Cairo. These stores were once the Middle Eastern counterpart of the famous department stores known in London, Paris and New York.