Passant Shawky

Born in Cairo. At the early age of six, Passant started showing an affinity for arts and sports and competed professionally for over a decade, ending her swimming career ranked third nationally. Passant is a classically trained belly dancer, which along with swimming she enjoys practicing in her free time. Passant obtained her B.A. in Business Administration with a double major in Finance and Marketing, from the prestigious American University of Cairo, while spending a year abroad at Penn State University. She later pursued a career in Investment Banking / Private Equity at the leading regional investment bank, before travelling to New York to further her acting craft. She spent time in New York training under world renowned acting coach Maggie Flannigan of the Maggie Flannigan Acting Studio, immersing herself studying the Meisner intensive program provided by the illustrious teacher. Upon her return to Cairo, she started pursuing her acting career in Egypt in parallel with her investment banking job, while attending multiple acting workshops to enhance her craft. On a dare, she auditioned and was successfully cast in the Reality TV show "Fear Factor Extreme" which was shot on location in Argentina. Several episodes into the competition (episode 4), she broke her nose and was offered medical attention which necessitated her quitting the competition. To the surprise of both the producers and the competitors, she refused to quit and continued refusing any treatment for her injury till she was forced to leave by losing. With the odds against her and while in constant pain, she competed to the very last losing in the final stunt in the final episode (episode 14). While attending an Improv acting workshop with renowned Egyptian actor Ahmed Kamal, she was discovered by writer/director Mohamed Fawzy who offered her the lead role in the feature film - "Family Secrets". This was followed by additional roles in both TV dramas and comedies as well as feature films. In 2019, she was cast in two feature films titled, "When We We're Born" and "Certified Mail." Both films received numerous awards at both regional and national film festivals; with "Certified Mail" selected to compete at the official competition of Toronto International Film Festival ("TIFF") and Carthage Film Festival, among others. She is an avid nature lover and world traveler. While a teen she also dabbed into horseback riding but found swimming much more satisfactory. She often calls herself an adrenaline junkie; once spending a month volunteering at a Lion Rehabilitation center in Zimbabwe, working with cubs and adult mature lions/ elephants, all while doing all sorts of extreme sports including paragliding, zip lining, bungee jumping, white water rafting, skydiving, among others. She is fluent in both English and Arabic.