Shadia

Shadia - BIOGRAPHY

Fatma Kamal El Din Ahmed Shaker, known professionally as Shadia, was born on the 8th of February 1931, in the area of New Helmia in Cairo. She was introduced to the world of cinema through an advertisement that her dad read about made by late director Ahmed Badrakhaan, in 1947 looking for new stars. She entered that contest at the age of 16 and was adopted by director Badrakhaan who changed her name to Shadia. From 1947 to 1953 was the start of her acting career, most of her roles then portrayed a cute lively and bubbly female. It was then when she fell in love with a fighter pilot and decided to get married. Unfortunately, death snatched him first during the war between Egypt and Israel at that time. Shadia was continuously supported by her father and siblings, who insisted that she finishes her education alongside her work in the movies. The second phase of her life was between 1953 and 1961. During that phase Shadia moved on to singing as well as acting and she was the sole supporter of her entire family, siblings and parents. She costarred with predominant actors and actresses such as the legendary Fatin Hamama. Shadia started appearing in more melodramatic roles that pushed her forward in her career, but the biggest incentive of all was her marriage to legendary actor Emad Hamdy who was almost 20 years her senior. Three years later the marriage ended in divorce for reasons such as age difference and children, which Shadia wanted to have but Emad Hamdy refused. Later she met Lebanese singer Farid Al Atrash, and there was a marriage project that was about to take place but, never did. Shadia then married radio engineer Fathi Aziz, but due to his extreme jealousy that marriage also ended 2 years later. Shadia’s 3rd phase was between 1961 and 1967 when she met actor Salah Thu Al Fakar. This period of her life was a 7 year ongoing emotional and personal success. She played the starring role in all of Naguib Mahfooz’ s chronicles. Unfortunately, this 7 year period also ended in divorce when Shadia lost her baby in a miscarriage for the 2nd time. Her fourth stage in her life is a more religious one , she slowly moved out of the spot lights when she discovered she had breast cancer. She travelled to the USA for treatment and later on went on a pilgrimage trip to Mecca for haj. There she met Sheikh Mohamed El Shaarawi, and after a couple of friendly chats, she decided to retire the acting career and focused more on the religious aspect of her life and increased her charity work. Legendary Shadia acted in 150 films and recorded 500 songs during her long successful career in the film industry. She sang many patriotic songs that are still remembered by Egyptians all over the world.