Raya Abirached
Encyclopedia
Raya Abirached is a Lebanese British
TV presenter and producer based in London
.
She is well known in the Middle East
as the host of hit show Arabs Got Talent, the Arab version of America's Got Talent
, and for being the first Arabic journalist to
interview A-list movie stars and directors such as Tom Cruise
, Angelina Jolie
, George Clooney
, Julia Roberts
, Brad Pitt
, Nicole Kidman
, Clint Eastwood
, Martin Scorsese
, and Oliver Stone
, music stars including Mariah Carey
, Beyoncé Knowles
, and Shakira
, sports celebrities such as Luis Figo and Boris Becker
, as well
as designers like Karl Lagerfeld
.
She frequently covers awards ceremonies such as the Oscars
, BAFTAs, Brits
and Film Festivals (Cannes
, Venice
, Berlin).
She has also interviewed Arabic A-list stars like Omar Sharif
, Youssef Shahine, Ragheb Alama
and Kazem El Saher. In 2006, she followed Palestinian filmmaker Hani Abu Asaad from his win as Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes to his Oscar nomination.
Raya also regularly collaborates as a celebrity journalist with several TV
stations like Entertainment Tonight
in the US, Star TV in Switzerland, ZDF
in
Germany, ORF
in Austria and Telecine
in Brazil, and is often requested to do generic interviews for major movie studios such as Warner Bros, Disney and Paramount
.
Apart from her job as a celebrity journalist Raya also hosted a weekly business
show World Business
, airing on CNBC Europe
and Asia
, PBS in America and Alarabiya in the Arab world, for which she attended the World Economic Forum
at Davos.
She also hosted events like the American Idol
competition in Dubai, as well as the launch of Ferrari World
in Abu Dhabi.
Raya started her career as a print and broadcast journalist in Beirut
before
moving to the UK in 1999. She holds a BA in economics, a Masters in Cinema and a
Masters in Broadcast Journalism from Westminster University
in London
. She is
fluent in Arabic, English, French and Italian. She currently resides in London with her husband.
Lebanese British
Lebanese British include people originating from Lebanon who have migrated to the United Kingdom and their descendents.-History and settlement:...
TV presenter and producer based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
She is well known in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
as the host of hit show Arabs Got Talent, the Arab version of America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent
America's Got Talent is an American reality television series on the NBC television network, and part of the global British Got Talent franchise. It is a talent show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of...
, and for being the first Arabic journalist to
interview A-list movie stars and directors such as Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
, Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
, Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
, Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
, Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, and Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
, music stars including Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
, and Shakira
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
, sports celebrities such as Luis Figo and Boris Becker
Boris Becker
Boris Franz Becker is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17...
, as well
as designers like Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Lagerfeld is a German fashion designer, artist and photographer based in Paris. He has collaborated on a variety of fashion and art related projects, most notably as head designer and creative director for the fashion house Chanel...
.
She frequently covers awards ceremonies such as the Oscars
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, BAFTAs, Brits
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
and Film Festivals (Cannes
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, Venice
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
, Berlin).
She has also interviewed Arabic A-list stars like Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
, Youssef Shahine, Ragheb Alama
Ragheb Alama
Ragheb Subhi Alama is a Lebanese singer, composer, television personality, and philanthropist. Alama began his career in the 1980s when he appeared as a contestant on the talent show broadcast Studio El Fan, on which he received the Platinum Award...
and Kazem El Saher. In 2006, she followed Palestinian filmmaker Hani Abu Asaad from his win as Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes to his Oscar nomination.
Raya also regularly collaborates as a celebrity journalist with several TV
stations like Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
in the US, Star TV in Switzerland, ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
in
Germany, ORF
ORF (broadcaster)
Österreichischer Rundfunk, ORF, is the Austrian national public service broadcaster.Funded from a combination of a television licence fees and revenue from limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media...
in Austria and Telecine
Telecine
Telecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....
in Brazil, and is often requested to do generic interviews for major movie studios such as Warner Bros, Disney and Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
Apart from her job as a celebrity journalist Raya also hosted a weekly business
show World Business
World Business
World Business was a weekly half hour features programme on CNBC presented by Raya Abirached. The show covered recent trends in global business, technology, luxury markets and the business of sport...
, airing on CNBC Europe
CNBC Europe
CNBC Europe is a business and financial news television channel, the pan-European sister station of CNBC. The network is owned and operated by NBC Universal and headquartered in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Place building with Dow Jones...
and Asia
CNBC Asia
CNBC Asia is a business news television channel in Asia. A subsidiary of NBC Universal, it is the Asian service of the Consumer News and Business Channel . Its programmes originate from Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney and has bureaus in Tokyo and Seoul....
, PBS in America and Alarabiya in the Arab world, for which she attended the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
at Davos.
She also hosted events like the American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
competition in Dubai, as well as the launch of Ferrari World
Ferrari World
Ferrari World is a Ferrari themed amusement park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The park is situated under a roof making it the largest indoor amusement park in the world. Ferrari World officially opened on November 4, 2010...
in Abu Dhabi.
Raya started her career as a print and broadcast journalist in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
before
moving to the UK in 1999. She holds a BA in economics, a Masters in Cinema and a
Masters in Broadcast Journalism from Westminster University
Westminster University
Westminster University may refer to:*University of Westminster, London, England* Westminster University , whose building is listed on the U.S. NRHP...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. She is
fluent in Arabic, English, French and Italian. She currently resides in London with her husband.