She was born in
Benghazi,
Libya, to an
Egyptian working family. Her Egyptian mother was also the half-sister of the
retired actress
Shams el-baroudi via their mother. Her birth-mother died when she was only two years old, so she and her siblings stayed with their father and his second wife in Libya where her father worked, though they spent their annual holidays back home in
Cairo. She has an older brother and three younger half-sisters. She graduated from the
University of Benghazi after studying business administration and commerce. She began modeling in ads, appeared with
Hany Shaker in 1997's
Tekhsary, then hosted the television show
Fawazir abyad wa aswad. ==Career==