Egyptian actress Mona Zaki will receive the Career Achievement Award at the ninth edition of the El Gouna Film Festival, recognising her contribution to Egyptian and Arab cinema across a career spanning more than three decades.
The honour will be presented during the festival’s opening ceremony on October 15, with the ninth edition running from October 15 to 23, 2026, in the Red Sea resort town of El Gouna.
The festival said the award celebrates Zaki’s work across film, television and theatre, as well as her continued willingness to explore different characters, perspectives and forms of storytelling. Her career has included roles ranging from mainstream productions and comedy to more challenging dramatic projects, alongside her work in theatre and, more recently, production.
Zaki began her acting career on stage at the age of 13 after auditioning for Mohamed Sobhi’s play Bel Araby El Faseeh (In Classical Arabic) in 1989. The production ran for more than a year and marked the beginning of a career that would later span multiple entertainment mediums. She subsequently studied mass communication at Cairo University while continuing to develop her acting career.
Her early television c...