Dina Shihabi

Dina Shihabi was born on September 21, 1989, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She spent her upbringing across Saudi Arabia, Beirut, and Dubai. From a young age, Shihabi showed an interest in performing arts, beginning dance classes at age 6. At 13, she started taking dance lessons from Sharmilla Kamte at the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre Chaloub Studio. During her schooling in Dubai at Al Mawakeb School, Emirates International School, and Dubai American Academy, she actively participated in school plays. Her teacher, Nancy Mock, encouraged her to pursue acting professionally.

In 2007, at the age of 18, Shihabi relocated to New York City to further her acting career, which became a full-time profession by 2010. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts for two years between 2008 and 2010. In 2011, she received acceptance into both the Juilliard School and the graduate Acting Program at NYU Tisch School for the Arts. She completed her Master of Fine Arts degree from NYU in 2014, marking a significant educational achievement as the first Middle East-born woman accepted into both Juilliard and NYU’s Graduate Acting programs, and the first Saudi Arabian woman to these institutions.

Shihabi’s acting career includes significant roles in television and film. She is known for portraying Hanin in Amazon’s “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan” (2018), Neda Kazemi in “Daredevil” (2018), and Dig 301 in Netflix’s “Altered Carbon” (2020). She also held a main role as Melody Pendras in “Archive 81” (2022) and appeared in the TV miniseries “Painkiller” (2023) as Britt Hufford. Her film credits include “Amira & Sam” (2014), which was her first major role, “Cigarette Soup” (2017), and “Catching Dust” (2023). In 2021, she also served as an executive producer for the short film “Chicken.”