Arab Faceclaim Masterlist
All right, so there’s a severe lack of Arab faceclaims going around, which is pretty ridiculous. Alas, Hollywood is ridiculous and has decided that we can’t have characters who are Arab played by people actually of Arab descent. The faceclaims I have highest hopes for gif-wise are near the top and it sort of descends, but I’m pretty sure everyone on the list has at least a gif. You might need to do a little digging. Try searching the names of the movies they were in if you get stuck looking. Please remember than people of all religions and skintones can be of Arab descent.
Alia Shawkat (Iraqi father)
Skandar Keynes (Lebanese, also Turkish and Persian on mother’s side but those are Middle East not Arab)
Shakira (Lebanese father)
Vanessa Lengies (half Egyptian)
Wentworth Miller (Part Syrian/Lebanese)
Tammin Sursok (at least part Lebanese)
Omar Metwally (half Egyptian)
Alexander Siddig (Sudanese)
Nadine Labaki (check sukkar+banat tag) (Christian Lebanese)
Salma Hayek (father has some Lebanese-Assyrian ancestry)
Vince Vaughn (Lebanese ancestry)
Julia Sawalha (part Jordanian)
Omar Sharif (Egyptian & Lebanese)
Saïd Taghmaoui (Moroccan)
Shannon Elizabeth (Syrian father. Tag is NSFW)
Yasmine Al Masri (check sukkar+banat tag) (Palestinian/Egyptian)
Joanna Moukarzel (check sukkar+banat tag)
Gisele Aouad (check sukkar+banat tag)
Fatmeh Safa (check sukkar+banat tag) (Shi'a Muslim Lebanese)
GoRemy/Remy Munasifi (Lebanese/Iraqi)
F. Murray Abraham (father from Syria)
Wendie Malick (Egyptian father)
Michael Nouri (Iraqi father)
Jenna Dewan (half Lebanese)
Jawahir Ahmed (Somali American)
Lubna Azabal (Moroccan, also Spanish)
Paula Abdul (Father is Syrian-Jewish)
Jerry Seinfeld (Mother is Syrian-Jewish)
Teri Hatcher (Quarter Syrian)
Emilio Estefan (Cuban/Greek Orthodox Lebanese)
Khaled El Sawy (Egyptian)
Youssef Chahine (Lebanese ancestry, identifies strongly with Egypt)
Saleh Bakri (Palestinian)
Elia Suleiman (Palestinian)
Nisreen Faour (Palestinian)
Hiam Abbass (Palestinian)
Also Palestinian Rap and hip hop is really freaking cool, so I definitely recommend giffing some of those artists. Shadia Mansour, DAM, Mahmoud Shalabi, etc. Look ‘em up. They don’t have gifs yet, but should.
Please tell me if you know of any more possible faceclaims. They don’t need to be American. Make sure they’re of a country in the Arab League, and they’re not just Middle Eastern, because that is a really strangely defined region that does not actually make much sense sometimes and varies depending on the map. A more broadly Middle Eastern list is in progress.
Jade Thirlwall (possibly through her grandfather, but no sources clearly state her ethnicity)