Omar Sharif
Sharif in 2004, photo by Denis Makarenko/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub
Date of Birth: 10 April, 1932
Place of Birth: Alexandria, Kingdom of Egypt
Date of Death: 10 July, 2015
Place of Death: Cairo, Egypt
Ethnicity: Egyptian/Lebanese
Omar Sharif was an Egyptian actor. He was also known as Omar el-Sherief and Omar Cherif.
He was the son of Claire (Saada) and Joseph Chalhoub, a precious woods merchant. He had a son with his former wife, actress and producer Faten Hamama. He was born to a Melkite Catholic family, and converted to Islam in 1955, when he married Faten. His grandson is actor, model, author, and gay activist Omar Sharif, Jr.
Omar’s maternal grandmother was named Abla Abdallah.
Omar has often been described as having been of Lebanese and/or Syrian descent, with some reports suggesting that his parents were from the city of Zahlé. In 1996, he appeared in the documentary Lebanon… Imprisoned Splendour.
However, in a 2009 appearance on Nile Cinema, an Egyptian television program, Omar stated that his parents and grandparents were all Egyptian. He stated the same in a 2010 interview.
Source: Genealogy of Omar Sharif (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
What Omar Sharif might have said on live TV on any Arab network about his origins are his pure inventions to satisfy the tribal nature of Arab people and to gain more fans in the Middle East.
Since the beginning of Islam, it was (an perhaps still is) never enough to convert to Islam, but you also need to claim an allegiance to a specific Arab tribe and proving or claiming to be descended from one was of utmost importance. Any professional (academic, politician, etc) that wanted to advance professionally need to become a client of a tribe and a lot of them faked their genealogies to gain protection and favors in the Muslim world during since 700 AD. One example of this was Abu Tamman, one of the greatest poets of all time in the Arabic language, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Tammam
Omar Sharif fought hard to hide or lie about his Lebanese Christian origins in the Middle East media although I dont think anybody bought it. Even in Egypt till this day when they commemorate his birthday, the newspapers always state he was of Lebanese descent as you can see here https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/100719/Celebrating-birthday-of-the-immortal-legend-Omar-Sharif
When in Lebanon and outside the Middle East he never denied his Lebanese origins. In 1996 he did a famous documentary called “Lebanon…Imprisoned Splendour” (IMDB link- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0239555/ and website link- https://lebanonimprisonedsplendour.com/about/). You can see him reciting a poem in the documentary “about his Lebanon” here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUEe-6FtXr4.
In every interview/article he did in the West for a western newspaper or magazine Sharif himself stated his Lebanese origins openly as can be seen here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/omar-sharif-hits-and-misses-6228824.html
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/omar-sharif-from-desert-prince-to-alone-in-paris-1.1787034
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-sep-25-ca-35779-story.html
He was born ans raised in Egypt but was of Lebanese Catholic descent. Please change this.