Adel Emam (; born 17 May 1940 is an Egyptian film, television, and stage actor. He is primarily a comedian, but he has starred in more serious works and, combined comedy with romance especially in his earlier films, which included My Wife, the Director General, My Wife's Dignity and My Wife's Goblin with Salah Zulfikar and Shadia. Emam earned a bachelor's degree in Agriculture from Cairo University. Since then he has appeared in over 103 movies and 10 plays. He is one of the most famous actors in Egypt and the in the Arab world. His contributions to the stage and film industries through addressing social and political issues in film and television earned him a cult following and a worldwide reputation that made him one of the most influential Arab public figures in the 1980s and 1990s. Adel Imam is considered by a huge mass of cult followers as a cultural icon in the history of modern Egypt. In January 2000, the United Nations appointed Emam as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR. Career Emam launched his career in theater in Ana w Howa w Heya (1962) with Fouad El-Mohandes and Shwikar and in cinema he acted in My Wife, the Director General (1966), My Wife's Dignity (1967), and My Wife's Goblin (1968) with leading actors Salah Zulfikar and Shadia. In early 1970s, he co-starred in Virgo (1970) with Salah Zulfikar, and shared the lead in Find a scandal (1973) with Mervat Amin and Samir Sabry. Later, he started to act in starring roles in the 1980s and 1990s including The Suspect (1981), and Love in a Jail Cell (1983), both films alongside Soad Hosny. He was an important national figure in Egypt largely because of the Egyptian political roles he took on in many of his films and plays, he always focused on Egypt's politics and religious problems. These roles, whether he intended it or not, often put him in a critical position vis-à-vis the president or the government, such as The Terrorist (1994) alongside Salah Zulfikar in Zulfikar's final film role. He has been cast several times by the producer Emad Adeeb in movies like Morgan Ahmed Morgan (2007), and Hassan and Marcus (2008) starring Omar Sharif. In 2005, he starred in The Embassy in the Building, playing a Cairene everyman inconvenienced when the Embassy of Israel moves into his apartment building. In the following year, Emam was