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Yasmine Al Massri Defeats Stereotypes

Star of hit t.v. show "Quantico", Al Massri defeats stereotypes about Arab and Muslim Americans.

Bianca Mari
Mar 08, 2016
Lehman College
105
Yasmine Al Massri Defeats Stereotypes
YouTube

Thirty-seven-year-old Yasmine Al Masri, actress on the ABC hit show “Quantico”, never dreamed of becoming an actress. At age twenty she attended École Nationale Supėrieure des Beaux-Arts in Pairs where she studied dance and multimedia. In 2007 she made her acting debut on the Lebanese comedy “Caramel” produced by Nadine Labaki. It was the most successful Arab film at the Cannes Film Festival and Al Masri received a best actress award from the Dhabi International Film festival for her role in the piece.

In 2015, after her first audition for the roles of twins Nimah and Raina on “Quantico”, Al Masri read about three Muslim college students who were murdered in a North Carolina hate crime. At that point she felt like she had to take on the roles of Nimah and Rain, she thought, “Ok now I know why I need to be in Quantico.” For Al Masri, “Quantico” is not about gaining fame but about putting an end to the world’s negative view of Arab Americans.

Al-Masri feels strongly about the portrayal of women and Arab Americans, "I think the problem Arab-Americans had until now was we didn't have any representation,” and now she will help change that by not only playing Arabic twins but by also displaying respect for the Muslim religion. Yes, that’s right! Al Masri does not only play Arabic twins but one of the twins, Nimah, also wears a hijab because of her Muslim faith. Given that there are so many stereotypes about Muslims as well, Al Masri seems to be tackling all negative connotations of women, Arab Americans and Muslims in one shot. Way to go Al Masari.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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