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10 Famous People from Cairo

Cairo is the capital of Egypt, located near the Nile Delta. It is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. The city thrived for thousands of years as an independent nation rich in human knowledge, from the arts to science to technology and religion.

Originally the city was known as al-Man峁Ｅ玶iyyah however, when Caliph al-Mu’izz li Din Allah arrived from the old Fatimid capital of Mahdia in Tunisia in 973, he gave the city its present name, Q膩hirat al-Mu’izz, “The Vanquisher of al-Mu’izz”, from which the name “Cairo”, al-Q膩hira, originates. Here are the 10 famous people in Cairo;

1. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – Wikipedia

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was born in Cairo on 19 November 1954. He is a retired military officer and Egyptian politician who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014.

As the minister of defense, and commander in chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was involved in the military coup that removed then-president Mohamed Morsi from office on 3 July 2013. In response to calls from supporters to run for the presidency, Sisi retired from his military career and announced that he would run as a candidate in the 2014 presidential election.

From 2019 to 2020, he also served as chairperson of the African Union.

2. Boutros Boutros-Ghali

Boutros Boutros-Ghali – Flickr

Boutros Boutros-Ghali was born in Cairo, Egypt, on 14 November 1922. He was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from January 1992 to December 1996.

His period as Secretary-General of the UN coinciding with several world crises, including the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide, because of this his reputation was shuttered. He became the only Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term by a veto.

He also served as the first Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, an international organisation representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language, from 16 November 1997 to 31 December 2002.

Boutros-Ghali died aged 93 in a Cairo hospital.

3. Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz, 1980s – Wikipedia

Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha was born on 11 December 1911 in Cairo, Khedivate of Egypt. He was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. He is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature. His writings have meant a powerful upswing for the novel as a genre and for the development of the literary language in Arabic-speaking cultural circles.

During his over 70-year career he has published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 movie scripts, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays. In 1996 the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature was established to honour Arabic writers.

In 1994, he survived an assignation attempt which left him with nerve damage on his right upper limb. He died on August 30^th 2006.

4. Bamba Muller

Bamba Muller – WikiTree

Maharani Bamba, Lady Duleep Singh, was born on 6^th July 1848 in Cairo, Egypt. She was the Egyptian wife of H.H. Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. She was raised in the missionaries in Cairo, as she was the illegitimated daughter of a German merchant banker.

Her transformation from illegitimate girl, born to a German father and Ethiopian mother, living in a Cairo mission to a Maharani living a life of luxury with the “Black Prince of Perthshire” has been compared to the “Cinderella” story.

Bamba died on 18 September 1887.

5. Mohamed ElBaradei

Mohamed ElBaradei – Wikipedia

Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei was born on 17 June 1942 in Cairo, Egypt. He is an Egyptian law scholar and diplomat who served as the vice president of Egypt on an interim basis from 14 July 2013 until his resignation on 14 August 2013. On 7 October 2005, he and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way”.

Today, ElBaradei is a Member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organisation that works to support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law.

6. Raffi

Raffi – Wikipedia

Raffi Cavoukian was born in Cairo, Egypt on July 8, 1948. He is a Canadian singer-lyricist and author of Armenian descent born in Egypt, best known for his children’s music. He is well-loved by many children born in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s for his popular children’s songs such as “Baby Beluga,” “Bananaphone,” “All I Really Need,” and “Down by the Bay.”

Today, Raffi has devoted himself to “Child Honouring,” his vision for creating a humane and sustainable world by addressing the universal needs of children.

7. Mayar Sherif

Mayar Sherif – Flickr

Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz was born on 5 May 1996 in Cairo, Egypt. She is an Egyptian tennis player who made history by being the first Egyptian female player to make it into the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at the 2020 French Open, being the first woman from her nation to win a Grand Slam main-draw match and the first Egyptian woman to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and reach a WTA final in Cluj-Napoca.

Her career-high WTA rankings of world No. 64 in singles and 141 in doubles, both achieved on 18 October 2021. She has won one singles title on the WTA Challenger Tour, won nine singles titles and six doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.

8. Salah Abu Seit

Salah Abu Seif – Wikipedia

Salah Abu Seif was born on May 10, 1915, in Cairo, Egypt. He was one of the most famous Egyptian film directors, and is considered to be the godfather of Neorealist cinema in Egypt. Neorealism is characterized by a general atmosphere of authenticity.

The 41 films he directed are considered Egyptian classics, with 11 films in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. His film The Beginning and the End was the first adaptation of a novel by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz.

9. Ramy Ashour

Ramy Ashour, 2012 – Wimimedia Commons

Ramy Mohamed Ashour was born on September 30, 1987, in Cairo, Egypt. He is a retired professional squash player from Egypt, widely regarded as one of the best naturally gifted squash players in the history of the sport.

He was the youngest player to reach number one in the world since the 1980s and the first ever two-time World Junior Squash Champion.

On April 22, 2019, he announced his retirement from professional Squash due to a chronic hamstring problem.

10. Mena Massoud

Mena Massoud – Wikipedia

Mena Massoud was born on 17 September 1991 in Cairo, Egypt. He is a Canadian actor and singer, best known for his lead role in the Disney fantasy film Aladdin. For his role, he received a Teen Choice Award nomination, and two National Film & TV Award nominations.

To help artists from underrepresented groups jumpstart their careers through securing mentors, training, headshots and includes support for actors, musicians, and visual artists, he founded the Ethnically Diverse Artists Foundation in 2019.