Clara Khoury

Clara Khoury (كلارا خوري, קלרה ח'ורי; born 29 December 1976) is an American actress of Palestinian origins. She works in film, television and theater. She grew up in Haifa, and now lives in California, US.

Biography
Clara Khoury is a Palestinian American actress born in Haifa, Israel. She is the daughter of the award-winning actor Makram Khoury. Her family is Greek Orthodox Christian. She studied cinema at the Open University in Tel Aviv and drama at the Beit Zvi Acting School.

Acting career
Khoury has worked in a variety of roles on stage including the lead in Antigone by Jean Anouih, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams and Salome by Oscar Wilde, in Arabic as well as in Hebrew and English. Her television work includes the series Parashat Hashavua, written by Ari Folman, and Arab Labor written by Sayed Kashua.

She made her big screen debut in 2002 in Rana's Wedding  by Hany Abu-Assad (director of the Oscar-nominated Paradise Now) which premiered in the International Critics' Week section at the 55th Cannes Film Festival representing Palestine.

In 2005 she gained international recognition for her role in The Syrian Bride, portraying a young Druze woman who risks losing her family by entering an arranged marriage with a Syrian national. Directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) the film won the Audience Prize at the Locarno Film Festival.

Khoury starred in Lipstikka, a British / Israeli psychological drama by Jonathan Sagall, in competition at the Berlinale 2011. At the Al-Midan Arabic Theater in Haifa she starred in Juliano Mer-Khamis's adaptation of Roman Polanski's 1994 movie Death and The Maiden after the play by Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman.

Her film repertoire includes Hiam Abbas’s inheritance movie and Susan Youssef Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf and Amsterdam to Anatolia on Netflix.

Khoury starred in the acclaimed mini series Baghdad central for Chanel4 and Hulu and the series Homeland for Showtime.

Film

 * The Inheritance - (2012) Hiam Abbass
 * Marjoun and the flying headscarf - (2019) Susan Youssef
 * Amsterdam to Anatolia - (2019) by Susan Yousef
 * A Letter to a Friend in Gaza - (2019) Amos Gitai
 * Laila in Haifa - (2020) Amos Gitai
 * Lipstikka - (2011) by Jonathan Sagall
 * Dusty Road - (2009) Rukaya Sabbah
 * Body of Lies - (2008) Ridley Scott
 * Liebesleben - (2007) Maria Schrader
 * Forgiveness - (2006) Udi Aloni
 * The Syrian Bride - (2004) Eran Riklis
 * Rana's Wedding - (2002) Hany Abu-Assad

Theater

 * Death and the Maiden—Paulina - (2010) Juliano Mer-Khamis
 * Hebron, Khalil / Rania -- (2007) Oded Kotler
 * Period of Adjustment—Isabel - (2006) Dedi Baron
 * Cruel and Tender—Laela - (2005) Artur kogan
 * Salome—Salome - (2005) Ofira Henig
 * The Glass Menagerie—Loura - (2004) Muneer Bakri
 * Gilgamesh, He is not Dead—Houmbaba - (2003) Francois Abuo-Salem
 * Anigone—Antigone - (2002) Gdalya Besser
 * Tiger at the Gate—Andromaque - (2002) Ido Ricklin

Television

 * On Any Saturday - created by Anat Asulin, Rani Blair
 * Kavanot Tovot - director Uri Barbash
 * Arab Labor - written by Sayed Kashua
 * Maktub - director Avi Mussel
 * Papadizi - director Ori Sivan
 * The Police Man - director Ram Levi
 * Homeland - created by Gideon Raff, Howard Gordon, and Alex Gansa
 * Baghdad Central - written by Stephen, director Alice Troughton

Awards and recognition
Khoury won two Israeli Academy of Film and Television prizes for best actress as Bushra in the television sitcom Arab Labor. She won the Best Actress Award for her leading role in Rana’s wedding at the Marrakech International Film Festival.