Dawlat Abiad

Egyptian actress, born in Assiut in 1896. Her mother is of Russian origin and her father worked as a translator for the Ministry of War in Sudan. She studied at the nuns’ school in Khartoum, where her father worked there. She was discovered by the artist Aziz Eid in 1917, and she played her first role, “The Countess,” then “Take Care of Emily.” Then the play (Dakhla Night). She succeeded in her first experience on stage. She moved to Najib Al-Rihani's band. Then the band of George Abyad, whom she married in 1923. She traveled to Syria with the Amin Atallah band in 1920, then joined the Munira Mahdia band. In 1921, she appeared in the operetta “Sheherazade” by Sayed Darwish’s troupe. I moved to Al-Rihani's troupe and played (Raya and Sakina). She joined Youssef Wehbe's troupe with her husband in 1923 and participated in the plays of Louis XI, Othello, Father Liponard, Crime and Punishment, and Cleopatra. In 1935, she joined the Egyptian National Band. She played starring roles in the plays King Lear, Samson and Delilah, The King's Joke, The Holy Flame, The Miracle, and Ghada Al-Kameliah. She built a theater in her name in 1944 in Dome Gardens, and two years later it was turned into a movie theater (Honolulu Cinema). She won the second prize for acting in 1925. The first prize for acting in comedy in 1926, and she received the State Medal of Arts on Flag Day in 1960.