Nabila Al-Nabulsi, the Nobel mom of the Syrian Drama’s seasons.
With her full face and tender eyes, Nabila Al-Nabulsi left traces of the kind and reassuring mother in the collective memory of Syrians and everyone who watched her. Al-Nabulsi embodied an outstanding artistic stature so unique in the history of Syrian drama, with so many roles, and various, on-point performances mixed with professionalism and sincerity of feelings, which reached the hearts of her audience from her own heart.
Nabila Al-Nabulsi was born in 1949,¹ and she lost her father at a very young age, which prompted her to go through the hardships of life pretty early, as she worked as a nurse, and later as a typist until she entered the field of advertising at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus.
Al-Nabulsi witnessed the beginnings of the Syrian theater, and despite her modest appearances with the Free Theater Group under the supervision of the late artist “Abdul Latif Fathi”, she caught the attention of the great director “Nabil Al-Maleh” with her beauty and talent, so he nominated her to star in “Labour” one of the films of the “Men Under the Sun” trilogy in 1970.¹
Then, she acted with the famous duo Duraid and Nihad, the following year, in the movie “A Woman Lives Alone”, and in 1975, Nabila Al-Nabulsi participated in “The Nightingale”.² Nabila Al-Nabulsi took a 10-year hiatus from acting to build her family and raise her children.
Nabila Al-Nabulsi returned to the cinema afterward with two films. Then she was debuted by the director “Ghassan Jabri” in one of her first television roles in the series “Tears of Angels”, after which her TV projects followed successively Nabila Al-Nabulsi got closer to the people through television.
Although she didn’t play the affectionate mother in all her roles, she presented a variety of different characters, proving that she is capable of steering away from the archetypal comedy character. For example, in the series “Qanun Wa Laken” her role challenged stereotypes In the series “Dimashq, Ya Basma Hazan”, which is based on the famous novel by Elfa Al-Idlibi.
What gives Nabulsi such a strong and beautiful presence is that she is a reflection of every woman we see around us as if she somehow summed up the spirit of the Syrian woman. The Syrian mother, presented by Nabila, was no longer confined to her traditional style, rather than that, she showed us the mother as a strong and influential person, and this was embodied in many of her roles such as in “The Four Seasons” and “Not a Mirage”.
These works of art are engraved in our memories despite her death which took her away from us not so many years ago, yet her gentle features remain, and her strong, affectionate voice is consistent, and it forever serves as an embodiment of our mothers, and of Syrian women as a whole.
The career of the late actress Nabila Al-Nabulsi has a big balance, and she appeared in different acting styles. In theater, her most prominent performances were: “A Moment Please”, “A Man in Charge Needed”, “The People Below”, “Youth of our Times” and “Spider Webs”.
In cinema, which highlighted her talent and played a major turning point in her life, she presented, in addition to the works mentioned earlier in this article: “Shame”, “Another Face of Love”, “Women for Winter”, “Smiling in Tears”, “Youth in Distress”, “Love Girls”, “My Teardrops, Tears, and My Smile”, “Naji Al-Ali”, “Amouna Lives Alone”, and “Ghawar James Bond”.
As for drama, the late Nabila Al-Nabulsi had an abundance of projects, and we cannot mention them all, but we will present to you some of them out of appreciation and respect.
Nabila Al-Nabulsi showcased almost all kinds of drama, from series of the Levantine social environment, such as “Hammam Al-Qishani” and “Layali Al-Salihiya”, to various drama projects such as “The Cave of the Maghreb”, “Al-Farari”, “The Swing”, “Dreams That Don’t Die”, “The Orange Dream”, “The Orphan”, “The House of the Family”, “Hearts in Balance” and “Hidden Hatred”, and certainly, her unforgettable role in the series “The Four Seasons”, the artist Nabila Al-Nabulsi also had participated in many radio projects.
The artist, Nabila Al-Nabulsi, passed away on the 29th of June, 2010, at the age of 62, after suffering from illness,³ her passing was considered a significant loss for the Arab world and the Syrian art scene, and her projects are still broadcasted on screens.
The late Nabila al-Nabulsi will remain with us forever with her grace and her heartwarming trace, her talent that accompanied the maturity of the Syrian dramatic experience, and reached together with it to the pinnacle of generosity dramatically and humanly.
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References:
[1] Daily Syria
[2] Marefa
[3] Mada Post