Nadine Njeim was elected Miss Lebanon 2004 and represented her home country in the Miss Universe 2005 pageant in Lebanon. This brought her fame in Lebanon and the Arab world, which facilitated her mission to enter the field of art 14 years ago. In 2007, Nadine was given a role in the series "Step of Love." when the writer Anis Fakhoury nominated her for the role. As of 2021, she became the most followed Lebanese actress on Instagram with more than 12 million followers.
Born on 7 February 1984 in Beirut in the Ashrafieh area, to a Lebanese Christian father, who used to work as a male tailor, and a Tunisian Muslim mother, Nadine’s roots go back to the Bekaa Valley, specifically the town of Doris, the family’s ancestral hometown.
She started modeling at the age of sixteen and participated in the Miss Lebanon competition in 2004 which was part of reality television on the Lebanese television for the first time in the history of the competition. A graduate from the College of Business Administration in Lebanon, she married Hady Asmar in 2013 and went on to have two children, a daughter and a son with him but they divorced in September 2019.
Since passing on her title Miss Lebanon, Njeim has pursued a career in acting and has been cast in various lead roles for a multitude of television shows such as Law and Cello, Samra, 3eshk El Nesa, Nos Yawm, Al Hayba, Tareeq and Khamse w Noss. She was the first Arab actress nominated at the Seoul International Film Festival for Best Actress for her performance in Samra.
Njeim collaborated with several stars in the Arab world, most notably Tim Hassan, Qusay Al-Khouli, Abed Fahd, Youssef Al Khal, and was able to grab many awards, including the title of best Lebanese actress for the years 2014, 2015, 2017, including the Murex Award.
In 2016, Njeim's views on premarital sex and gender equality, expressed in a 2012 interview on Future TV, rose to relevancy since many found them to be controversial. She said, "I want women to stay women. If they equate me with a man, I'd feel like a man. I don't want to. I want to stay a woman.”
In response to the backlash she received, Njeim stated in another interview that she believes the content of the resurfaced clip had been purposely edited to discredit her. She said she supported women's rights and that her message promoted gender equality.
Njeim starred in Season One of Al Hayba, but not in Seasons 2 and 3 because her role as a woman on the show conformed to gender stereotypes and she wanted her character to be more physically active.
On August 4, 2020, the Lebanese actress was severely injured in the Beirut explosion, severely injured in the face, and underwent an operation that lasted about 6 hours.
On March 8, 2021(Women’s Day), Nadine tweeted on her Twitter account, saying "Greetings to the Lebanese woman for her determination and persistence in the shadow of all that is happening in Lebanon and greeting to Arab women in general. I saw her in the first rows, and she was like the leader to those around her and I saw her in the last rows, so she was like the guardian of her family, and I saw her in the middle where the balance between her mind and her heart was achieved."
The women of Lebanon and the Arab world saluted Nadine by publishing several photos and comments reflecting her strength in her recent crisis after the Beirut Port explosion, and they confirmed that she is one of the symbols of power among the stars in the artistic field.
This Ramadan, she plays the role of Sama in a "2020" series written by Nadine Jaber and directed by Philip Asmar. It is about a drug dealer who falls in love with Sama, the security officer who is following up the leaders of Case Number 2020. The series is also starring Qusay Khouli.
It presents sensitive social issues, and its events proceed at an accelerated pace, in a dramatic line that mixes romance and action, and its characters live between two contradictory worlds, and they engage in conflicts in which they use all their tools to achieve their ambitions, the past pursues them and casts a shadow over their future.
The hashtag "2020" was trending on Twitter in Lebanon before the first episode was shown on MTV and MBC. After the first episodes, a large number of the audience interacted with the hashtag and expressed their great enthusiasm to continue the series.
Njeim is a woman who loves life and beauty. It takes a rare courage and optimism to say as she did after the Beirut crisis, "Thank you God for everything, I am full of positivity and still in love with life."
