The first thing you notice about Tara Emad is that she radiates positive energy. Despite joining our Zoom call amid a late night of filming, the Cairo native has the bubbly attitude of a dinner-party host. In reality, it’s rare to catch the model-turned-actress outside of work she’s stayed booked and busy since her early teens, fronting luxury campaigns as a Middle East ambassador for Chanel Beauty and Cartier, gracing magazine covers such as Elle Arabia, Vogue Arabia, Marie Claire, and Haya and starring in some of Egypt’s most-beloved shows and films like Blue Elephant: Dark Whispers but her joie de vivre convinces you that there’s truth to the old saying: If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.

Emad certainly loves what she does and always has. As a child, she relished having her picture taken, posing, and smiling whenever someone raised a camera. She recalls her excitement when she landed her first job, a small part in a TV spot, at age 11. “I was not even visible. But I believed that I was the star of the ad. And my mom tells me that I was so confident that the ad was all about me,” she laughs.

Call it kismet. The Egyptian-Montenegrin beauty continued to land bigger commercial gigs and eventually began to appear in national advertising campaigns, her face smiling down at her from billboards all over Egypt. As surreal as her early success was, the young talent kept her gaze fixed on the future, hungry for a big break. At 14, she made her first foray into modeling with a feature in the Lebanese magazine Layalina. The promising spread led to a cascade of fashion week catwalks and glossy editorials including a particularly memorable photoshoot where she posed near the top floor of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. (“I was super scared,” she admits, before praising the shoot’s diamond jewelry.)

While she nabbed several small acting roles at the same time, a spate of rejection led the rising model to consider giving up her thespian dreams. Left feeling a little disillusioned, she moved in with her cousin in Paris at 20 years old and prepared to accept a full-time modeling contract, but shortly after the move, she got an unexpected call. One of Egypt’s biggest actors, Adel Emam, wanted her to play his daughter in his next series, Saheb El Saa’da (“His Excellency”). “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m coming tomorrow.’ And I did not sign my modeling contract. I went back the next day and started filming a day after that,” she shares.

The spur-of-the-moment decision paid off, as Emad rapidly ascended the ranks of Egypt’s television and film industries. Most recently, she starred as Laila in the Arabic-language version of the popular legal drama Suits, putting her spin on the character Meghan Markle originated in the hit U.S. series. Other notable roles include social worker Farida in the 2023 comedy El Matareed and Nada in the popular 2016 action-thriller The Fourth Pyramid. Throughout her career, she’s made an effort to play roles that reflect the authentic experiences of Egyptian women. “The characters that really intrigue me remind me of women that I see around me,” she explains. “Like, yes, I know this love story. I know the feeling that this woman is going through. I know the problem this woman is dealing with. I know the family trauma she’s trying to heal from.”

While modeling offered her the chance to travel the world, acting has enabled Emad to connect with her home country. Vanity Fair named her one of the most influential women in the Middle East during a gala at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Not only does the multi-hyphenate seek to represent her culture in Egypt, but she also hopes to increase Egyptian representation in global cinema. Growing up, she recalls rarely seeing girls with her features in Western productions. While representation has improved, there are still many stories waiting to be told about Egypt’s rich culture and its people and she’s ready to bring them to the world.

“I want to be Tara, the Egyptian actress that is representing her country, that’s representing her culture, and that’s representing the girls of Egypt, internationally. This is my dream.” Maybe it’s her infectious positivity or her already impressive track record, but once Emad puts her intentions out in the universe, it feels like they’re already beginning to manifest.

This story appears in the pages of V146: now available for purchase!

Photography Bruno & Nico Van Mossevelde

Fashion Gro Curtis

Makeup Abebelle Petit (Wise & Talented)

Hair Anne Sofie Begtrup (Wise & Talented)

Production Julie Giudicelli (Obvious)

Photo assistant Pietro Frizzi

Stylist assistant Liana Sipos

Location Studio Mac Mahon