Cherien Dabi
Cherien Dabisis a Palestinian American filmmaker and actress who hasestablished herself as a creative force across a variety of mediums. Havinghelped forge a new genre of Arab American storytelling, she bringsauthenticity, complexity, and humanity to the stories she writes, directs,and performs, spotlighting underrepresented perspectives with humorand humanity.Dabis got her start with her trailblazing debut feature “Amreeka,” whichshe wrote and directed. Exploring the immigrant journey of a Palestiniansingle mom, the film had its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance FilmFestival before going on to win the coveted FIPRESCI InternationalCritics Prize in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes. It won a dozen moreinternational awards and was nominated for a Best Picture GothamAward, three Independent Spirit Awards including Best Picture, BestFirst Screenplay and Best Actress, and was named one of the Top TenIndependent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. Thefilm landed Dabis on Variety’s “Ten Directors to Watch” list that sameyear.A true multi-hyphenate, Dabis made her acting debut when she starredopposite Bill Pullman and Alia Shawkat in her second feature film,2013 Sundance opener “May in the Summer,” which she also wrote anddirected, a dramedy about a Palestinian American writer who returnshome to reconnect with her roots.Dabis has also showcased her signature approach into television, executive producing and directing standout episodesof Golden Globe-winning “Ramy” for Hulu and guest starring in Netflix’s Gotham and Peabody award- winning“Mo.” In 2022, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series’ for thecritically acclaimed and groundbreaking episode “The Boy From 6B” on Hulu’s hit show “Only Murders in theBuilding”, starring comedy legends Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Variety hailed the dialogue-freeepisode of television told from the point of view of a deaf character as “the episode of the year” and “a tour de forceof directorial achievement.” In addition to directing additional standout episodes in season two and three, Dabis’television directorial credits also include episodes of Netflix’s “Ozark.” Additional television acting credits includePrime Video’s “Fallout” and Apple TV+’s “Extrapolations
