I come from a family of refugees. I'm used to surviving and going with the flow, and what happened to me was just life.

Although I come from a family who are Muslim - my mother is Egyptian, my father is Palestinian - my mother only puts a veil on her head when she has a bad hair day.

I never had planned for my life and my career.

To be a veiled Muslim woman on screen is a very scary minefield for me.

I didn't want to be an actress. I wasn't trying to be in film or an art gallery for me.

I am a contradiction myself. I'm always looking for something that scares me because when I'm not scared, I'm not stimulated.