Biography

• Name: Wedad Hamdy
• Profession: Egyptian actress (one of the most famous performers of maid roles and the witty female sidekick in Egyptian cinema)
• Date of Birth: 3 March 1924
• Place of Birth: Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, Egypt
• Date of Death: 26 March 1994
• Place of Death: Cairo, Egypt
• Years Active: From the 1940s to the early 1990s

Early Life and Education

• She hailed from Egypt’s Nile Delta (Kafr El Sheikh Governorate).
• She received acting training; encyclopedic sources note that she attended the Acting Institute before beginning her professional career.

Beginnings and Entry into the Arts

• She started on stage with musical and revue troupes as a chorus singer, which gave her valuable experience performing before live audiences.
• She moved to cinema in the mid-1940s and quickly settled into supporting roles with comic and social tones.

Career Highlights

• She became especially known for playing the maid, the working-class neighbor, the traditional midwife (daya), and the sweets vendor—always with a warm comic touch and an ability to make an impact even in small roles.
• She is among the most prolific Egyptian actresses, with hundreds of appearances across film, theater, and television.
• Her presence spanned several eras in the evolution of Egyptian cinema. In popular memory, she is the quintessential al-saneeda—the amiable female sidekick who brings lightness and human warmth to the story.
• Note: al-saneeda is a colloquial term for the witty female supporter of the lead.

Notable Work

• She built an extensive body of film, theater, and television work from the 1940s through the 1990s, excelling especially in social comedies.
• Her enduring place in the collective memory is tied to her supporting roles, which made her an iconic presence in many classic Egyptian films.

Death

• She was found deceased in her Cairo apartment on 26 March 1994, in a tragic criminal case that shook the artistic community at the time.