Mona Wassef recalls her memories of the movie “The Message” in “Big Time”

The distinguished Syrian artist Mona Wassef opened her heart and talked about the details of her personal and artistic life. She said that her artistic beginning was in the sixties of the last century, explaining that she also married during that period.
She added that her husband was working on Syrian television, and he asked her to stop acting at the beginning of their marriage, as Mona Wassef actually stayed at home and stopped working for a year, contenting herself with watching television, but with time she could not bear to give up on her dreams and returned to acting after her husband insisted.

Mona Wassef said in her interview with the journalist Amr Adeeb on the Big Time podcast: “All the works that we presented on the national stage were in Arabic or translated. There was no teleprompter. I also learned to recite the Holy Qur’an because of that, and this is a natural thing.”
She added: “If some words stopped us, we would not return to the dictionary, but we would return to the Holy Qur’an, and we had artists who were proficient in the Arabic language, especially those studying at the university.”

Her personal life

Mona Wassef is a Syrian actress. She was born in the capital, Damascus, in 1942 to a Maronite mother and a Sunni Kurdish father. She spent her childhood until the age of seven on Al-Abed Street in Sharaf Neighborhood. I worked for many years in cinema and television.
Wassef became famous in the Arab world through her participation in the film (The Message) with director Mustafa Akkad, in addition to many films that she presented in Syria, including (The Sun on a Cloudy Day, Another Side of Love, The Opposite Direction, The Report, and The Cute Thief).
She also worked extensively in television drama, and among her most prominent series are (Delilah and Al-Zaybak, Birth from the Loin, Asaad Al-Warraq, and Al-Zahir Baybars).
Wassef also spoke about her role in the movie “The Message,” recalling her memories of the movie, which she considered a turning point in her artistic career. She said that she hesitated to accept participation in the movie after knowing that international artist Irene Pappas would play her same character in the foreign version of the movie, which is what made her… She feels insecure at first because of the “schoolgirl spirit” she feels.

Highest pay

After the contract, Wassef discovered that she had received a huge salary for the film, amounting to 8 thousand dollars, and she added: “It was the first time that I had received such a large reward in dollars,” and it was a surprise to her.

Regarding her relationship with the great artist Anthony Quinn, she said, “I learned humility from Anthony Quinn, and I will never forget when my daughter and I were with him in the elevator, with a small child with us.”
She added: “At the time, Anthony Quinn was growing his beard because he was filming one of his roles in the desert, and then the little child looked at him and pointed to his beard, so Anthony Quinn knelt down and began kissing the child.”
She continued: “I also learned humanity from him, and to walk and distribute greetings to the people around me, and tell them good evening and good morning.”