FATIMA AL TAEI

The actress made history by being the only Emirati star to be part of a movie that’s been submitted to the Oscars. In the Saudi fantasy movie Scales, produced by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Al Taei plays the mother of Hayat, a head-strong girl who lives in a village that has the tradition of sacrificing one daughter from each family to sea creatures. It is Saudi Arabia’s official entry for the 2021 Academy Awards. Al Taei also took the lead as a lawyer in the legal drama Justice, which was first Emirati series to stream on Netflix in 2019. Talking to Gulf News, she said: “Sometimes, as an actress you can relate with the characters you play, and with Farah the parallels were so clear and obvious to the point where I feel that there is still some of Farah left in me.”