Yasmine Al Massri

Yasmine Al Massari was born in 1978 in Beirut, Lebanon to a Palestinian refugee father and an Egyptian mother. She was initially raised during the Lebanese Civil War until her parents fled and moved to France.^[1] In 2007 she graduated from the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and began her career as a dancer at the Souraya Baghdadi dance company.^[2] She later moved to the US.^[1]

Massri made her big screen début in the 2007 critically acclaimed Lebanese LGBTQ-themed comedy-drama film, Caramel, directed by Nadine Labaki. The film was presented at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival,^[3] For Caramel she received the Best Actress Award at the 2007 Abu Dhabi Film Festival,^[4] and the same year a Best Actress nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.^[5] Following Caramel, she starred in the internationally produced films Al-mor wa al rumman, Al Juma Al Akheira, and Miral.^[6][7]

In 2014, Massri made her debut on American television, in a starring role on the NBC drama series, Crossbones opposite John Malkovich.^[8] In 2015, she was cast alongside Priyanka Chopra and Aunjanue Ellis in the ABC thriller Quantico as two characters — identical twins Nimah and Raina Amin.^[9][10][11]

In May 2016, Massri became a citizen of the United States.^[12]