Maisa Abd Elhadi

Maisa Abd Elhadi
Abd Elhadi in 2016
Born	(1985-11-15) 15 November 1985 Nazareth, Israel
Education	Wingate Institute
Occupation(s)	Actress, Hydrotherapist
Awards	"Best Actress" Award at the Dubai Film Festival

Maisa Abd Elhadi (Arabic: ميساء عبد الهادي; born 15 November 1985) is a Palestinian-Israeli actress. Abd Elhadi won the best actress award at the Dubai Film Festival in 2011.

Biography

Maisa Abd Elhadi was born in Nazareth, Israel on 15 November 1985 to Palestinian Muslim parents.

At the age of twenty, she joined a group of amateur actors and began performing with them in Nazareth. At the same time, she completed a B.A. in hydrotherapy at the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports. While working as a waitress, she met director Elia Suleiman, who offered her her first role. Following this meeting, she began auditioning and studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv where she graduated with honors.

Maisa was shot and injured in the leg by Israeli forces, while taking part in a civil protest in the city of Haifa, Israel, on 9 May 2021, protesting against forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Controversy

On October 12, 2023, Abd Elhadi was arrested in Nazareth on suspiction of "inciting terrorism and expressing solidarity with a terrorist organization". On October 29 of the same year, Nazareth District Court Judge Arafat Taha placed her under house arrest. While acknowledging that her posts were "harsh" and could provoke anger and distress, the judge expressed uncertainty about whether she had committed any illegal act by sharing them.

After spending a year under house arrest, Abd Elhadi was released by a ruling from the Nazareth Magistrate Court, but she was still banned from social media use, with the exception of WhatsApp.

Selected filmography

• The Time That Remains (2009)
• Eyes of a Thief (2014)
• 3000 Nights (2015)
• The Idol (2015)
• In Between (2016)
• The Worthy (2016)
• The Angel (2018)
• The Reports on Sarah and Saleem (2018)
• Tel Aviv on Fire (2018)
• Baghdad Central (2020)
• Gaza Mon Amour (2020)
• Huda's Salon (2021)

External links

• Maisa Abd Elhadi at IMDb
• Maisa Abd Elhadi at Rotten Tomatoes