Rana Shmayess
Biography
A Syrian actress, who graduated from the Medical Institute in Damascus. After graduating, she did not find herself in this field, so she quickly decided to join the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts and pursue acting. She became among the most prominent promising Syrian actresses who possess great artistic talent. She made her debut in the series The White Thread (2004).
Known For & Full Filmography22 Titles
Drama Series - 2006, 16 episodes • as أمينة
The series discusses the stories of young university students, their reality during their studies, and the hardships and unknown fate they endure after graduation.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as عفاف
During the period of the French occupation of Syria, the events of the series revolve around As'ad AlWarraq, an orphan, illiterate, poor young man who is pushed by circumstances between various paradoxes, between false accusations and the injustice of his neighborhood people towards him.
Drama Series - 2008, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
The show tells the story of a playwright, Jalal, who holds secular views, and his close friendship with Michel, his childhood friend. Michel initially worked as a lawyer but later transitioned to journalism, founding his own magazine in which he boldly addresses societal issues, drawing significant criticism. Additionally, the narrative explores themes of separating religion from civil and political life through a love story between a man and a woman from different faiths: Jalal (a Muslim) and Hanan (a Christian). Their relationship culminates in a secret marriage, which lasts until Jalal’s sudden passing. Throughout the story, the work focuses on two major issues related to secularism: the demand for a civil personal status law that permits civil marriage, and the call for a secular education system that allows students the freedom to seek their own truths instead of being indoctrinated with a predetermined "absolute truth." It also tackles issues of political and social corruption.
Drama Series - 2019, 16 episodes • as ربى
Amir and Adham are two inmates that are facing death sentence. but strange events begin to happen that leads to smuggling them out of prison, by the car of the new director, and the execution of two others instead of them, and then a series of events begin to evolve.
Movie - 2022, 2h 15m • as غادة
The film talks about the pain hidden in the corners of the soul and the psychological breakdowns that accumulate day after day, fold upon fold, forming a heavy weight on the heart. They are small details related to the partner sometimes and to work and life circumstances other times, so a person becomes in need of confiding in order to purify his heart and soul and hear some of his groans for the one who is supposed to be his warm embrace, like a child who takes refuge in the arms of his parents after they had abused or become angry with him. Confession is a highly sincere emotional state and its whisper is like a stifled, choked scream. It is a film that talks about the simple cracks that, when they increase, threaten the relationship with the partner and warn of its collapse. It is a social film that moves between the depths of hearts, shedding light on those pains hidden within each of us.
Drama Series - 2014, 16 episodes • as Maryam - مريم
A Syrian family — warm, funny and profoundly ordinary — finds itself facing the impossible choice millions of Syrians faced: stay in a home torn apart by war, or pack up everything and leave. They choose to go. But the road out proves just as punishing as what they left behind, with each episode delivering a new obstacle, a new heartbreak and a new reason to laugh through the tears. From the creator of Lost Village — tragicomedy at its most human.
Movie - 2018, 2h 15m • as سوسن
In the film, a family of moral, noble, musician, and singer friends save lives, trying to save them in the literal and metaphorical sense.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
The series revolves around politics and corruption in 1980s Syria. An aspiring university student is forced to become a police officer and climb the political ladder, revealing bitter truths along the way.
Movie - 2024, 2h 15m • Main Cast Role
A compelling and profound story that explores the resilience of the human spirit in times of crises and wars.
Drama Series - 2010, 16 episodes • as سارة
The story of four young men who were high school classmates. Despite the differences in their understanding of life, their work and their tendencies, they somehow share something in common, as their destinies intersect to tell a story about love, friendship and the double standards of morality.
Drama Series - 2024, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Through separate, connected episodes, the series addresses many contemporary social issues, such as corruption, unemployment, poverty, social relations, and others.
Drama Series - 2017, 16 episodes • as رندة
Family Crisis / Azma A'iliya (2017) is a Syrian comedy-drama set against the backdrop of the country's turbulent political climate. A father finds his old values challenged by the chaos around him, a wife obsessed with emigrating abroad, and university-educated children who turn the house into a laboratory for their scientific experiments. The collision of generational attitudes, ambition and survival instincts in one household drives the comedy and drama.
Drama Series - 2011, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
A story that examines the unique social fabric of the city of Damascus through the neighborhood of Talea Al Feda, where Muslims live alongside Christians and Jews, coexisting in tolerance and peace.
Drama Series - 2025, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
The events take place inside a Damascus neighborhood in two time periods separated by 15 years, during the period that preceded the liberation of Damascus from the Ottoman occupation, and the period of the Ottoman control over the neighborhood, as a strong conflict erupts among the notables of the neighborhood to respond to and resist it.
Drama Series - 2020, 16 episodes • as رنا
Among the Syrian refugees who were forced out of their country due to the war, the dean of a Lebanese college is forced to leave his job behind and turn his attention into investigating a mystifying crime.
Drama Series - 2024, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
A businesswoman seeks to exploit some girls to achieve her personal interests by having them work as dancers and forcing them to do whatever she asks, whatever it is, and the stories of these women come across each other.
Drama Series - 2025, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
An outstanding performance featuring brilliant storytelling, high stakes drama, and unforgettable character arcs.
Drama Series - 2020, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
Forensic pathologist Adam plunges into the criminal underworld, driven by a thirst for revenge against those who forced him to betray his ethics to save his daughter.
Drama Series - 2009, 16 episodes • as صبح
The series deals with social stories of several different characters who carry the same obsessions, fears, and concerns, and then their paths intersect in a way that makes them unite with each other to overcome those fears.
Drama Series - 2015, 16 episodes • as Sawsan
Special Relationships weaves together the lives of five couples whose stories all converge on one wedding day. Each pair faces a different emotional crisis — betrayal, class tension, hidden pasts, infertility, or secret marriages — revealing how love is shaped by pressure, pride, and social expectation. As their paths intersect across multiple Arab countries, the series explores how relationships fracture, heal, and transform under the weight of truth.
Drama Series - 2016, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
When her new husband Ghaleb discovers a dark secret that she's been hiding, a guilty Mays agrees to be his lifelong slave. Hoping to earn his forgiveness someday, she gives up her dignity and femininity in an attempt to win him back.
Drama Series - 2017, 16 episodes • Main Cast Role
When a hardworking employee is wrongfully accused of breaking regulations, corruption within the system sends an innocent man to jail. Stripped of his dignity and freedom, he emerges from prison with one goal: revenge. A gripping Syrian drama that pulls back the curtain on institutional corruption and the lengths one man will go to reclaim his justice.