Amal Ayouch

Amal Ayouch (born 1966) is a Moroccan actress who since the late 1990s has performed in the French language both on stage and, above all, in film.[1] In January 2015, she was honoured with an award at the African Women's Film Festival in Brazzaville.[2][3] Ayouch has played a leading role in Morocco's Fondation des arts vivants (Living Arts Foundation).[4]

Biography

Born in Casablanca in 1966, Amal Ayouch showed interest in acting from an early age, performing on stage at high school. When she was 18, she arrived in Montpellier where she studied to become a pharmacist. While at university, in 1987 she joined a theatre group attached to the French literature department.[5]

She began her film career thanks to another pharmacist, Hassan Benjelloun, who gave her an important part in Les Amis d'hier (1998). Soon afterwards, Hakim Noury invited her to star in Destin de Femme together with Rachid El Ouali. Playing a woman who refused to submit to a difficult husband, she contributed to the film's success.[5]

In 1999, she agreed to play a woman of loose morals in Ali Zaoua directed by her cousin Nabil Ayouch. Similar roles followed in Farida Belyazid's Casablanca, Casablanca (2002) and Chassan Benjelloun's Les lèvres du silence (2001) and Farida Belyazid's Casablanca, Casablanca (2002). She went on to star in Driss Chouika's Le jeu de l'amour (2006), allowing her to master a difficult role in intimate scenes with Younes Megri.[5] She has also played in other successful films including Les Anges de Satan (2007).[3]

She appeared in two films directed by Nabil Lahlou, Les années de l'exil (2001) and Tabite or not Tabite (2004). It was also Lahlou who encouraged her to act on the stage, inviting her to appear in his theatrical productions, including Ophélie n’est pas Morte, Les Tortues, Antigone, and En Attendant Godot.[5]

Filmography

Cinéma

Year	Film	Director	Role	Notes
2017	Palestina	Julio Soto and Mohamed El Badaoui	Ismahan	Spanish production by Ana Rodrigues
	Little Horror Movie	Jérôme Cohen Olivar	Mrs Mancherbreuk
2016	Riad de mes rêves	Zineb Tamourt		short
2015	Les larmes de Satan	Hicham Jebbari	Meriem
	Jérôme Cohen Olivar	Soraya
2014	Sotto Voce	Kamal Kamal	Fatma
2013	L'Anniversaire	Latif Lahlou	Ghita
2012	Derriere-les-portes-fermees	Ahd Bensouda	Najia l’avocate
	Le Retour du fils	Ahmed Boulane	elle-même	short appearance
2011	Rihanna	Mourad El Khaoudi		short
2010	Les ailes de l'amour	Abdelhay Laraki	Hajja Hlima
	Femmes en miroirs	Saad Chraibi	tante Ghita
2009	Entropya	Yassine Marroccu		short
2008	La Française	Souad El Bouhati	Mme Laktani
	Kandisha	Jérôme Cohen Olivar	Dr Maliki
2007	Les Anges de Satan	Ahmed Boulane	l’avocate
2006	Une gazelle dans le vent	Mohamed Hassini
	Le jeu de l'amour	Driss Chouika
2005	La danse du foetus	Mohamed Mouftakir		short
2004	L'ascenseur	Selma Bargach		short
	Good bye Khadija	Kamal Belghmi		short
	Tabite or not Tabite	Nabyl Lahlou	Farida Fatmi
	La mer	Rachida Saadi		short
	Sang d'encre	Layla Triqui		short
2002	Casablanca Casablanca	Farida Belyazid	Amina
2001	Les années de l'exil	Nabyl Lahlou	Tamerdokht
2000	Ali Zaoua	Nabil Ayouch	Ali Zaoua's mother
	Les lèvres du silence	Hassan Benjelloun	Aicha l’institutrice
1999	Histoire d'une rose	Majid Rchich
1998	Destin de femme	Hakim Noury	Saida
1997	Les amis d'hier	Hassan Benjelloun	l'étudiante

References

1. "Amal Ayouch". AlloCine. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
2. Bouhrara, Imane (15 March 2007). "Amal Ayouch, l'artiste philosophe" (in French). Maghress. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
3. "Amal Ayouch primée au Festival du film des femmes africaines de Brazzaville" (in French). AtlasInfo. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
4. Jadraoui, Siham. "Fondation des arts vivants : du théâtre pour les quartiers défavorisés" (in French). Aujourd'hui. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
5. "Amal Ayouch : La comédienne militante". L'opinion. 25 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.