Hiam Abbass, the acclaimed Palestinian actress known worldwide as Marcia Roy in HBO’s Succession, is set to receive the European Film Academy’s honorary award for European Achievement in World Cinema. The award will be handed to her at the 39th European Film Awards on 16 January 2027 in Athens, where she will be the ceremony’s honorary guest.
Hiam Abbass (Credits: Deadline) – a career spanning more than a hundred films, now receiving one of European cinema’s highest honours.
A Remarkable Journey
Born in Nazareth to a Palestinian family forced into exile in 1948, Abbass began her acting career at the Palestinian National Theatre El-Hakawati in East Jerusalem — a stage that was often closed by Israeli authorities. During a theatre tour through Europe, she decided to leave Palestine for London, and has lived in Paris since the late 1980s.
From those beginnings she built one of the most decorated careers in Arab and international cinema, with over a hundred film credits including Paradise Now (2005), The Visitor (2007), Lemon Tree (2008) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). She also directs, with her feature debut Inheritance (2012) premiering at the Venice Film Festival.
From Logan Roy’s Wife to Ramy’s Mum
Global audiences know her best from television: as the elegant, enigmatic Marcia Roy across all four seasons of Succession — a performance that earned her a Primetime Emmy nomination in 2023 — and as the scene-stealing Maysa Hassan in Hulu’s Ramy. Few actors have bridged arthouse cinema and prestige TV with such quiet command.
The European Film Academy’s honorary award recognizes a career that has embodied the resilience and spirit of Palestinian and Arab storytelling on the world’s biggest stages.
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Source: Deadline — read the full story there.
