Biographies: Omar Hijo - Actor

Biographies

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A Syrian actor, born in Aleppo. He was the father of director Laith Hijo and the brother of actress Amira Hajo. He is considered one of the founders of the Syrian artistic movement, starting from the Aleppo Theater and the People’s Theater to the founding of the Artists Syndicate, the Mime Theater in Syria, and the Al-Shouk Theater with Duraid Lahham. In addition, he served as Secretary and Head of the Investment Office in the Artists Syndicate for many years. His beginnings were through theatrical works in which he appeared in the theaters of Aleppo and formed his first private theater group after the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt in 1956 with actor Abdel Moneim Asber called Folk Arts and presented a number of plays such as Colonialism in Al-Asfouriya and The Eisenhower Doctrine. He was the first to introduce pantomime to the Arab world, as he presented the play Victory for the People in 1959 in the theater of Cairo University. He also contributed to the establishment of the National Theater and Syrian Television in the 1960s until, after years of experimentation, he was guided to try out the Al-Shouk Theater before presenting his first show Mirrors, on the stage of the Soviet Cultural Center in Damascus in 1969, followed by many shows that achieved local and Arab success. He also participated in plays presented by Duraid Lahham and Mohammed Al Maghut, starting with October Village. But the other important theatrical contribution in his career lies in his founding of the Mobile Theater in cooperation with the late playwright Saadallah Wannous and director Alaa El Din Koksh. He died in 2015, at age 84, after a severe heart attack.

• 7 November 2023
• Shaimaa Saied