Middle East goth girl

Rising Egyptian movie star advises
aspiring actors in Montreal

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Christine Solomon

Age: 28

Occupation: Actress

Bio: This proud Dawson College theatre graduate and DDO resident first started acting at age five in her native Egypt, before moving to Canada with her family a couple of years later “so my sister and I could have a better education, a better life. Not to say Egypt doesn’t also have a better life, but everyone there wants to come to North America.” The daughter of a U.S. Embassy worker father and philosophy professor turned airline hostess mother—“Flight attendants make more money than teachers do in Egypt,” she says—after graduation, Christine started getting the occasional acting gig in Montreal and L.A. before heading back to Egypt “where I got my big break, which was a total surprise, I had no idea I was going to make it there.” She’s currently hawking two Egyptian films she appears in, Fakers and Heliopolis.

So it’s safe to assume her dad was once a spy for the CIA? “Uh, no, he was the head of the accounting department there.”

What Christine means by “making it” in Egypt: “Well, I’m in two films, and lately they’ve been entering many festivals and, you know, it’s gone pretty well, and right now my latest film, Heliopolis, has been entered in the Toronto Film Festival. It also screened at the Cannes Film Festival and we had a huge buzz about it. Apparently, I heard Robert De Niro really likes it, and I don’t know, I think it’s going to take audiences by storm here in Canada. It’s a beautiful script and everybody’s acting in the movie is really good. It has a powerful message and...yeah. I play a gothic character—which has never been seen in an Egyptian film before. It’s a gutsy film, right in your face, it tells the truth, you know? Egypt is the Hollywood of the Middle East. If you want to make it in Middle Eastern cinema, you’ve got to go to Egypt. If you’re from Syria, Dubai, a singer, a dancer, if you want to make it big, you have to go there. Most of the opportunities go to people who already have connections though, like, if their parents are already in the business.”

Does that bug her? “Not if they’re talented, but I hate seeing people who are really bad getting jobs without even having to audition just because they’re connected. Especially when there are so many talented actors out there.”

Does the casting couch also have significant influence over who gets roles in Egypt? “Yes, it exists there too. I’ve never dated anyone to get a part though, I find that very degrading and I’m just not that desperate. But it does happen, and as often as not, the actors just get used and don’t even get the role.”

Something she’s setting up in Montreal right now: “Muze, an acting career consultancy boutique that will be providing expert advice and career assistance for both aspiring and working actors. It will give actors inside knowledge of how this business really works.”

Last book read: Natural Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About, by Kevin Trudeau.

Musical preferences: Michael Jackson, Kevin Hayes, Celine Dion.

Words of wisdom: “Don’t sit around and wait for luck to happen, go out there and grab it.

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net