Despite her marriage to an icon of Egyptian cinema, Liqaa Sweidan tells Kamal Soltan that she's a star in her own right "I was a star before I married Hussein Fahmi," says Liqaa Sweidan Liqaa Sweidan was an early bloomer. Born in Alexandria in 1974 to a Lebanese father and an Egyptian mother, at eight years old she landed a role in the television series Huwwa Wa Heyya (Him and Her), starring Soad Hosni and Ahmed Zaki. Later she was given a part in the espionage show Raafat Al-Haggan starring Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, and the Ramadan show Alam Waraq Waraq (Paper, Paper World ), starring Fayruz. She studied singing at the Conservatoire and graduated top of her class from the Higher Institute of Stage Arts in 2000. More recently, Sweidan has appeared in several television shows, including Mohamed Fadel's Al-Aaela Wal Nas (Family and People) ; Al-Attar Wal Sabaa Banat (The Spice Vendor and the Seven Girls) starring Nour El-Sherif; Awraq Masriya (Egyptian Papers) ; Harat Al-Zaafarani (Al-Zaafarani Alley), starring Salah El-Saadani; Hekayat Zawg Moaser (Tales of a Modern Husband), starring Ashraf Abdel-Baqi; Yahya Al-Adl (Long Live Justice), starring Mustafa Fahmi; Sayf Al-Yaqin (Sword of Certainty), a history drama starring Youssef Shaaban; and Nasr Al-Samaa (Victory of Heaven), starring Samiha Ayoub. On stage she had leading roles against some of our elite actors including Nour El-Sherif, Hussein Fahmi and Ezzat El-Alayli. Wary of being typecast, she played a bad girl in Yahya Al-Adl, a peasant in Hekayat Al-Medandesh (Tales of a Dandy), a southern Egypt girl in Imraah Men Al-Saeed Al-Gowwani (A Woman from the Far South), and the streetwise girl in Al-Harafish (The Hoodlums). Sweidan is just finishing the final scenes of the television show, Qatel Bela Agr (Unpaid Hit Man), in which she appears with her husband Hussein Fahmi. "I am very pleased with my role in this show, and once again to be co-starring with Hussein," she told me. This is not their first encounter. Last year they co-starred in the stage play Zaki Fil Wezara (Zaki in the Ministry). In Qatel Bela Agr, Sweidan plays the role of Joan, a British doctor who works as an assistant to Shehab El-Salamoni, a world-class Egyptian doctor. The two are caught in a love triangle, of which we learn more as El-Salamoni struggles to save the life of an Egyptian girl. The show, to be screened in Ramadan, also features Farouk El-Fishawi, Fadia Abdel-Ghani, Aida Abdel-Aziz, Menna Fadali, Heba Magdi, Hassan Mustafa, Aida Riyad and Madiha Hamdi. Mustafa Moharram wrote the script and the director is Rabab Hussein. Sweidan has been married to Fahmi for a year and a half now, and admits that her association with an icon of Egyptian cinema was worrisome at first. "I was worried that people would think Hussein was pushing me to get roles. But let me say this. The person who selected me for the Qatel Bela Agr role was the director, Rabab Hussein, with whom I worked in four shows before. She thought I was right for this specific part because of my age and appearance." She says her marriage to Fahmi is not uncommon, and certainly not the first in Egyptian cinema. "This is something we see a lot in the art scene, as is the case with Nour El-Sherif and Pussy, or Mahmoud Yassin and Shahira," she says. If anything, Sweidan's career has slowed since the marriage. "I used to do four or five shows a year. This year I am only doing two, and in the first year of our marriage I didn't act at all," she says. "So being married to Hussein is not necessarily a smart career move. I was a star before I met Hussein Fahmi." The couple met when they were acting together in stage play Ahlan Ya Bakawat (Welcome Gentlemen), which was a long-running success at the National Theatre. "I have opposed nepotism all my life, out of respect for myself and my art. I don't even go to private parties to meet producers and directors," Sweidan says. She is currently involved in a show called Law Enta Nasi (If You Forgot) with actor Riyad Al-Kholi. In it Sweidan plays the role of Waad, a singer in love with a corrupt lawyer. "During the show I will sing 18 songs by various singers, including Sabah, Shadia, Warda and Hoda Soltan," she says. A singer since childhood, Sweidan worked on children's songs with composer Ammar El-Sherei at one point. "At 14 I joined the Conservatoire and studied singing," she says. "When I finished there I joined the Institute of Theatre Arts to study acting and directing, and I got an MA in stage direction." She recalls singing in the musical Egypt: Will of Victory at an event attended by President Hosni Mubarak. Sweidan has just finished filming a video clip titled Mesh Arfah (Don't Know) produced by Mohsen Gaber of Alam Al-Fann. "The song is from my next album, which will be released under the title Farhet Hayati [Joy of My Life] and will have 10 other titles."
