Sacha Dahdouh, an actress who is making a name for herself. (Credit: Loobat Hob screenshot)
Playing a super villain is a first for Sacha Dahdouh. The actress played the execrable yet charismatic Cyrine the viper in Shahid’s Loobat Hob new soap opera, alongside Nour Ali, Moatasem Annahar, Chukran Mourtaja, Joe Trad and many others.
In this “love game,” an adaptation of the successful Turkish romantic comedy series Kiralik Ask, this frightening manager is ready to do anything to win Malek’s heart, using her tricks, her manipulative looks, her beautiful outfits and her neurotic gestures.
While the character bears no resemblance to the actress, who is natural and pleasant in real life, Dahdouh seemed confident in her performance. So much so, in fact, that she is stopped in the street as a “viper” and receives daily messages from fans of the series reproaching her for all the nasty tricks she played on Sama, the lead character who is forced to accept an unheard-of offer in exchange for money. She had to get Malek, a rich shoe designer, to fall in love with her and marry her. But she didn't take into account Cyrine’s scheming.
“After the success of the Ennar Bennar soap opera in 2023, where I played the role of Amar and won the public’s trust, I needed a change,” Dahdouh told L’Orient-Le Jour.
“When I was asked to play Cyrine, I was asked to watch two episodes of the original Turkish series to understand who this woman was. Honestly, I couldn’t stop until I’d finished the season. I loved the show, its beautiful spirit, its characters and especially Cyrine, who really appealed to me. She’s a character of a thousand colors who really interested me as an actress, as she evolves and changes over the course of the episodes. I needed this change in my career, to take a step forward,” she said.
The poster for the highly successful series, from left to right and top to bottom: Moatasem Annahar and Nour Ali, Ayman Reda, Ayman Abdel Salam, Choukran Mourtaja, Sacha Dahdouh and Joe Trad.
A change of scene
At a time when adaptations of Turkish series are enjoying great success throughout the Arab world, to the dismay of some actors who prefer the original scripts, Dahdouh said that she is not taking sides, although she does add that this kind of shooting is no picnic.
“It took nine months in Turkey,” she said. “That’s a very long time, and it requires a lot of hard work and seriousness. At the start, I was apprehensive about the experience, wondering how I was going to live with the same character for nine months. I wondered if I’d get bored, if I’d reach a point where my acting would fall into a rut. In fact, I needed time to get out of Cyrine’s skin once the shoot was over,” she said.
It was also difficult for the actress to adapt to filming in Turkey. “It’s a new environment where you go back to your hotel every night,” she said.
She added, “You lose your bearings. What’s more, the film crew spoke only Turkish. Fortunately, my children were able to come and spend two months with me, and the MBC and O3 production team were there for us in a real family atmosphere. A month of preparation and reading helped us get into the swing of things and draw our characters. Because even if we were inspired by an existing series, we absolutely wanted to add our own personal touch. We had the freedom to play with our own tools, our own gestures, our own vision. And although the director only spoke a little Arabic, after a while we began to understand each other, he in Arabic, we in Turkish!”
Sacha Dahdouh, a beauty turned viper for the duration of a series. (Credit: Loobat Hob screenshot)
Perseverance
In love with her profession, Dahdouh is committed to it on a daily basis and continues to explore the facets of her talent with professionals, and courses that enable her to broaden her horizons and give free rein to her imagination. For her, it’s a way of catching up with a dream, as she had not been encouraged by her parents to study drama, who feared a “difficult environment.”
In Lebanon and the Arab world, many remember her as a morning show host on channels, including NBN and Al Aan Dubai, LBC SAT, Rotana and Al Jadeed: A page she has turned, at least for the time being.
“I think I’ve done what I was meant to do in the world of journalism,” she said. “The most important thing for me is that I’ve always been myself. Today, filming is a pleasure that brings out all my emotions and gives me fulfillment.”
“Yes, it took a long time for the opportunity to present itself,” she said. “For a long time, people didn’t see me as an actress, but everything comes in its own time. I stuck with it, and in life, perseverance is everything,” she said.
The chance for Dahdouh came in 2018 with director Serge Oryan, who had collaborated with her on commercials, offering her the lead role in the Beirut City series.
“He wanted young, inexperienced girls who looked like the women of Beirut,” she recalled. “When I look back at those images, I say to myself that it was great for my first time, even if I’ve evolved since then and would have played the character differently today.”
After Beirut City, the soap operas followed one another: Al-Aawda, Dahab Bent al-Hotel, al-Bari’a and Awlad Adam. The actress was lucky enough to work with great directors including Rami Hanna, Allaith Hajjo and Mohammad Abdel Aziz.
“They believed in me and gave me a lot,” she said. “I have great affection for them.”
But the Ennar Bennar soap opera was a turning point in the young woman’s budding career, for which she was awarded a Murex d’or.
“The character of Amar, a Lebanese woman who defends her home in the face of all kinds of challenges, and who has to put up with a husband she loves but who has a gambling addiction, struck a chord with audiences,” said Sacha.
“Not to mention the soap’s subject matter, which explores the relationship between Lebanese and Syrian refugees. The chemistry between actor Tarek Tamim and myself helped a lot. We had an intense connection,” she added.
“It’s these intense roles that move me, provoke me, and that I’d like to present to the public in the years to come,” she added.
She revealed that her biggest flaw is constantly thinking and planning too much. “It makes me tired, but I do my best to live in the moment without worrying too much. It’s an effort you have to make every day, especially in this Lebanon that you love without knowing what tomorrow will bring,” she said.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translated by Joelle El Khoury.
