Biography
A quintessentially exotic-looking Israeli-born actress who more than fit the bill for generic ethnic roles (particularly Middle Eastern assignments) in Hollywood productions, sloe-eyed and raven-haired Hiam Abbass jump-started her career in her native Europe. Early parts included those of a policeman's wife in Rashid Masharawi's contemporary drama
Haifa (1996), that of a North African immigrant during a period of intense anti-Algerian discrimination in Bouriem Guerdjou's fine, overlooked drama
Vivre au Paradis (1998), and the role of Om-Younes in Yousry Nasrallah's controversial Israel-Palestine epic
Bab el Chams (The Door to the Sun).
Abbass moved into Hollywood work courtesy of (and at the behest of) no less than
Steven Spielberg, when the director cast her in a small role in his early '70s-set political thriller
Munich. After this, Western roles began to arrive quickly and furiously; they included the mother of a terrorist (in the jihad-themed thriller
Paradise Now [2005]) and the mother of the Virgin Mary (in
Catherine Hardwicke's biblical cinematization
The Nativity Story), in addition to a fine supporting role in
Jean Becker's low-key seriocomedy
Conversations with My Gardener (2007). Abbass then returned to Israel for the lead in
Lemon Tree, a comedy about a Palestinian woman who refuses the minister of defense's bids to have her lemon tree torn down. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide