Reham Abdel Ghafour: I thought about retiring from acting due to boredom and frustration

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Actress Reham Abdel Ghafour is one of the actresses who were able to build an artistic career based on progression and accumulation of experiences, far from being satisfied with the success achieved by one role or being associated with a fixed image with the audience. Since her beginnings, she has moved between various characters in cinema and television, and has played roles belonging to different social and human worlds, benefiting from her ability to express the psychological contradictions and subtle emotions experienced by the characters.

With the passage of time, her choices became bolder, and she began to turn to roles that gave her a wider space to test her acting tools, and allowed her to break out of the patterns that she had been associated with in previous stages of her career.

This transformation was not the result of a coincidence, but rather came as a result of a long journey of searching for roles that resembled her artistic ambition, and a desire not to remain captive to one image, no matter how much success she achieved.

Reham went through different experiences in her nature, and cooperated with authors, directors, and producers who helped her discover new possibilities, which was reflected in her presence in works such as “Don’t Turn Out the Sun,” “Like the Sun,” and “A Dangerous Turn,” all the way to “The Story of Narcissus,” which constituted one of the important stations in her recent career.

This journey reveals an artist who did not treat success as the end of the road, but rather remained willing to review her choices and search for new challenges.

During her participation in the activities of the ninth session of the El Gouna Film Festival, Reham Abdel Ghafour returned to one of the most difficult periods in her career, revealing that she thought about moving away from acting after she felt that she was presenting the same characters repeatedly. She spoke with Al Arabiya.net about the impact of the type of roles on the artist, the importance of innovation in his career, and the role that the producer can play in helping the actor discover new areas of his talent.

Actress Reham Abdel Ghafour said that she went through a phase that lasted for about ten years during which she felt that she was revolving in the same acting space, as she repeatedly appeared in roles that were similar in terms of their nature and details, which caused her to feel bored and frustrated. She explained that she no longer felt satisfied with the image she presented to the public, and began to imagine that the viewers themselves had become bored with her repeatedly appearing in the same way, which made her look at her artistic future pessimistically, and seriously consider leaving acting.

She added that the problem was not in the performance of the characters or the nature of the artistic work itself, as much as it was related to her feeling that she was not investing in her abilities in the way she aspired to, and that continuing within the same style might deprive her of the opportunity to discover other aspects of her talent.

Reham pointed out that changing the type of roles was one of the main factors that helped her regain her enthusiasm, as she began turning to characters that were different in her psychological and social makeup, and searching for experiences that would allow her to present a performance that was unfamiliar to her.

She explained that leaving the comfort zone is not limited to changing the character's appearance or external circumstances, but rather requires approaching new worlds and understanding motives and behaviors that may not resemble the artist in his private life.

This transformation was not just a desire for diversification, but rather represented an opportunity for her to rediscover her relationship with acting, and to treat each role as an independent experience that requires research and preparation. As the scope of the characters she presented expanded, she had more room to express her abilities and move away from the image that the audience was accustomed to in her early days, which helped her build a different presence in a number of dramatic works.

She explained that cooperating with a team that believes in the artist’s ability to transcend the usual roles gives him the opportunity to try new choices, instead of reproducing previous success in the same way.

She added that renewing confidence in the actor, and giving him an opportunity to present a character different from what the audience is accustomed to seeing in him, may open paths for him that he did not expect.

Reham Abdel Ghafour revealed her willingness to participate in the 2027 Ramadan drama season through a series in which she collaborates with writer Maryam Naoum and director Maryam Al-Bagouri, explaining that the work addresses an important issue, and that the character she presents represents a new challenge for her.

She pointed out the importance of the project to her career, and her keenness to choose roles that carry content and give her an opportunity to present a different experience.

She added that the success of the series “The Story of Narcissus” put her in front of a greater responsibility when thinking about her next steps, as she became more careful about the level of work she chooses, and about her ability to provide an experience that keeps pace with her aspirations and those of the audience.