Youssra is one of Egypt’s biggest and most celebrated cinematic icons. The internationally acclaimed actress and singer has been associated with almost 90 films, winning awards and accolades through her illustrious career. Among them: the 2001 Egyptian National Film Festival prize for her role in Khaled Youssef’s The Storm, a Marrakech International Film Festival Honorary Award in 2003, the Award for Excellence at the Turin Film Festival in 2007, and the Arte Award at the Taormina Film Festival in the same year. She starred in several films that participated in the official competitions of international festivals, such as Egyptian Story by Youssef Chahine, screened at the 1982 Venice International Film Festival, and Yousry Nasrallah’s Mercedes, selected for the 1993 Locarno Film Festival. Among her other notable films are Raafat El-Mihi’s The Lawyer (1984); Chahine’s Alexandria Again and Forever (1991), The Emigrant (1994), and Alexandria... New York (2004); Sherif Arafa’s Terrorism and BBQ (1992), El-Mansy (1993), and Birds of Darkness (1995); Khairy Beshara's Strawberry War (1994), and Marwan Hamed’s The Yacoubian Building (2006). Youssra has served as a jury member at numerous international film festivals, and headed the jury of Carthage Cinema Days in 1994. She also became the first Egyptian actress to head the international jury of the Cairo International Film Festival in 2014. In 2006, Youssra was chosen to be a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.