Clara Khoury

Clara Khoury (born 29 December 1976) is an Israeli Arab actress. She works in film, television and theater. --- Clara Khoury was born in Haifa, Israel. She is the daughter of the award-winning actor Makram Khoury. Her family is Greek Orthodox. She studied cinema at the Open University in Tel Aviv and drama at the Beit Zvi acting school. Khoury has worked in a variety of roles on stage including the lead in Antigone by Jean Anouih, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and Salome by Oscar Wilde, playing in both Arabic and Hebrew and English. Her television work includes the series Parashat Hashavua, written by Ari Folman, and Arab Labor written by Sayed Kashua. She made her big screen debut in 2002 in Rana’s Wedding by Hany Abu-Assad (director of the Oscar-nominated Paradise Now) which premiered at the Semaine Internationale de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2005 she gained international recognition for her role in The Syrian Bride, portraying a young Druze woman who risks losing her family by entering an arranged marriage with a Syrian national. Directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) the film won the Audience Prize at the Locarno Film Festival. --- Khoury is married to Sean Foley, an American with Irish and Egyptian roots.