Sabri Saad El Hamus

(Egypt, 1957) grew up in Egypt, where he studied economics. In 1978 he left for the Netherlands and did drama school in Amsterdam. In 1984 he had his first theatre role and two years later played with the Ro Theater and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. From early on he has combined the stage with parts in films and tv series such as Pleidooi and Spangen. In 2007 he became the artistic leader of theatre group De Nieuw Amsterdam. There he made the five-part series Pax Islamica, about the five pillars of Islam: confession, ritual prayer, alms-giving, ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The texts were written by Mustafa Stitou, among others. Then followed Pax Hominis, written by Arnon Grunberg, and the coming months he plays Pax Deus, the gospel according to Pilate, based on the book by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt. In 2011 El Hamus was a regular guest in the Pauw en Witteman news show, reporting on the revolution in his native Egypt.