Date of birth April 10, 1932. Birth place Alexandria, Egypt Birth name Michel Demitri Chalhoub Height 5' 11 " (178 cm) Omar Sharif is an Academy award nominated Egyptian actor.

An Egyptian by birth, Omar Sharif was the son of a timber merchant who didn’t find much following his father’s business. In 1953, he took up acting in the Egyptian film industry. Through out the 50s he stared in many Egyptian-Arabic movies, which brought him to the interest of the western world. It was in 1962, that he starred in his first ever English role, for the critically acclaimed film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. He starred alongside Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn. Omar was also nominated for an Academy award for best supporting actor for his performance on ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

His next memorable performance was in 1965, for David Lean’s ‘Doctor Zhivago’ where he plays the title role. Through out his career he has starred in many foreign movies and is known to have mastered four languages including Greek and French. He is also known to be able to speak Italian and Turkish, even though not fluently. Alongside his acting career Omar was also known to be a professional bridge player, and was also actively involved in gambling. In 2003, Omar made a great come back to become the talk of the press Media after he starred in the French movie ‘Monsieur Ibrahim’. He plays the role of an elderly Muslim grocer who draws a fatherly affection towards a neighborhood boy, whom he later adopts.