Tamara Dhia. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

I?m Tamara Dhia. I was born in Baghdad, Iraq, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. At a young age I expressed in an interest in the arts, but it wasn?t until I completed my undergraduate studies that I decided to whole-heartedly pursue acting as a career. After receiving a B.A. in Communications from the American University in Washington D.C. in 2003, I moved to New York. Since then I have appeared in numerous short films, and have also co-founded the production company ?Welcome UpsideDown Productions,? for which I write and produce short films and plays. 2007 was a busy year for me, most notably for my lead performance in Santa Claus in Baghdad. It tells the story of a young girl coming of age in Baghdad during the year 2000. I regard my friends and family as the most important influences in her life, and I would like to thank them for all of their love and support.

I would also like to send my love and support to all Iraqi women. I believe we all live in a world where Arab women have been extremely mis-represented. Whether you were raised within an Arab community or outside of one, you dealt with many obstacles...whether it was struggling to destroy stereotypes, or to carve a new path for the ideal of what it means to be an Arab woman. There seems to be a constant struggle, and I dream of a day when our women achieve peace: politically, socially, and emotionally. Until then, I will do my part to destroy any pre-conceived notions of what Arab women are capable of...like being an Arab woman in the arts. My heart truly goes out to all Iraqis living in Iraq. I hope that one day our region will thrive again...and be the beautiful Iraq it once used to be many, many years ago.