Background and career
Adel Mohammed Emam Mohammed Bukhariny (Arabic: عادل محمد إمام محمد بخاريني; born 17 May 1940) is an Egyptian film, television, and stage actor. Over a career spanning more than 150 films, plays, and television series in comedic, social, and political genres, he became known as one of the leading figures of the second generation of Egyptian and Arab comedy performers. Although primarily known for comedy, he also took on more dramatic material, and in his early secondary roles combined comedy with romance, notably in films such as My Wife, the Director General, My Wife's Dignity, My Wife's Goblin and Virgo, all films starring Salah Zulfikar. Emam began acting in the 1960s and became one of the best-known performers in Egyptian cinema. He holds a bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Cairo University, and has appeared in more than 103 films and 10 stage plays. He is married to Hala El-Shalaqani; their children include director Ramy Emam and actor Mohamed Emam. Through roles that addressed social and political issues, Emam gained wide popularity across the Arab world during the 1980s and 1990s and is frequently described in Egyptian media as one of the country's leading cultural figures. Emam has received a number of lifetime achievement awards and honors from Egyptian and international film festivals. In January 2000, the United Nations appointed him a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR.
Adel Emam was born into a poor farming family on 17 May 1940 in the Sayeda Aisha district of Cairo, though his family's origins trace back to the village of Shaha in the Mansoura district of Dakahlia Governorate. His full name is Adel Mohammed Emam Mohammed Bukhariny (Arabic: عادل محمد إمام محمد بخاريني). Emam has said he was very close to his mother and was deeply affected by her death. His father, Mohamed Emam, was religious and worked as a "shawish" in the police force; he died in 1997 after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Emam has one brother, producer Essam Emam, and two sisters, Eman and Mona. Mustafa Metwalli, his brother-in-law, is married to his sister Eman. During his childhood, Emam moved with his family from Sayeda Aisha to the Helmiya district, then to Omrania in Giza, then to Mohandiseen, and later to Mansouria. He studied at Helmiya School before transferring to Benbaqdgan Secondary School and then to Marqosiya Secondary School in Alexandria. He then joined the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University, where his classmates included actor Salah El-Saadany and future Syrian Prime Minister Mahmoud Al-Zoubi. Emam has said that Amin Shalaby, Younes Shalaby, Saeed Saleh, and Salah Al-Saadani were his closest friends from university. He began performing at Cairo University's theater and appeared in the play Ana Wa Howa Wa Heya (1963) during his third year there.
Emam has been married once, to Hala El-Shalaqani, since the mid-1960s. In interviews, he has said he was not initially interested in marriage, but that his wife, who came from a wealthy, land-owning family with ties to the Liberal Constitutional Party, was determined to marry him despite their different social backgrounds, and that her family was reluctant given his status at the time as an actor in minor roles. In one televised account, Emam described how he and his wife were once at the home of their friend Samir Khafaga when he first saw her, and that although others around them tried to flirt with her, he did not, saying he did not know how. Hala El-Shalaqani discussed their early relationship in an interview with media personality Mufid Fawzy, saying she had insisted on marrying Emam because he was shy and hesitant about starting a new relationship. She recalled: "He once told me that he wasn't thinking about marriage at all." Emam has said the couple chose not to hold a wedding ceremony in order to save money, and that they built their household gradually, first buying a chair, then a refrigerator, then a stove. He has also said the marriage took place without his wife's family's approval, since they objected to his status as a film extra at the time, adding: "God loves me because I married Hala." Emam has three children: director Ramy Emam, Sarah Emam, and actor Mohamed Emam, who played Taha El-Shazli in The Yacoubian Building. He has eight grandchildren: Adel, Ezz El-Din, and Roqaya (Ramy's children); Hala, Camellia, and Amina (Sarah's daughters); and Khadija and Qismat (Mohamed's daughters). Ramy's wife is Yasmine, Sarah's husband is Ahmed Mokbel, and Mohamed's wife is Nouran Talaat. Emam typically spends summers with his children and grandchildren at a family villa on the North Coast. He is a keen reader and keeps a large personal library, and has a longstanding hobby of gardening.
No official figures for Emam's wealth have been published. Some media reports have estimated his net worth at around $100 million, making him the richest actor in Egypt, though these figures are not independently verified.
Emam began performing in theater in Ana w Howa w Heya (1962) with Fouad El-Mohandes and Shwikar, and made his film debut in 1967 in small roles. His early film work included My Wife, the Director General (1966), My Wife's Dignity (1967), followed by his first significant role in My Wife's Goblin (1968) opposite Salah Zulfikar and Shadia. He was part of a younger generation of actors who emerged during a period of social and political change in 1960s Egypt, and was noted for both comedic and dramatic range. Despite his early minor roles, Emam drew the attention of writer Mahmud Sadani, who discussed him in his 1969 book The Comedians:
If Adel Imam realized how talented and in demand he is, he would have saved himself from the trap set for him. If he didn’t quickly escape from this narrow corner he was placed in, to roles of light-hearted villainy, the charming conman, a mix of Richard Widmark and Clifton Webb, a blend of Tawfik El-Deken and Fouad el-Mohandes, a concoction of Hassan Yousef and Abdel Moneim Ibrahim, even if Adel failed to escape this fate, even if he remained stagnant in supporting roles, it would not diminish his talent, nor undermine his stature as a brilliant, talented, and great artist.
