FROM PLAY TO REALITY

She grew up between Australia and Lebanon. After a childhood spent on planes, Daniella Rahme let chance and fate lead her to an artistic career in her father’s tiny country. She won the “Dancing with the Stars” talent show. Her achievement put her in the spotlight and allowed her to embark on her other dream job: acting. After several films and series, including Tango, she shines today in a main role in the series Lil Mawt (Till Death). At only 32 years old, by dint of discipline and her dedication to self-improvement, Daniella Rahme is today an inspiration for women all over the Arab world.

Many know Rahme as Reem, the fierce, determined and rebellious character she plays in Lil Mawt. But we beg to ask — does this character resemble her in real life? Still haunted by her role, the filming of the last scene having only been completed on March 31, she is slowly reconnecting with her true self. Authentic, bright, the green of her eyes is sometimes crossed by the blue shadow of her memories, as she gradually steps back from a character that sticks to her skin. Beneath Reem’s red hair, Daniella is there. She confides in sincerity and speaks to you like an old friend you’ve just found again.

Lebanese-Australian, Rahme has, since her childhood, been split between two countries that she calls “home”. From vast Australia to small Lebanon and back, at a very young age she got into the habit of spending large parts of her life in airplanes on long-distance flights. When asked to recount her memories of her early days, she begins with the worst. “It was unstable, all the time moving from one country to another. went to several schools, at least three,” she confides to YUNG. Surprisingly, the graceful young lady who won the Miss Lebanon Emigrant 2010 trophy in Australia, before going on to succeed in Beirut in the Dancing with the Stars reality show, admits to having been teased during her childhood, “They made fun of my legs, which were too long… and my ears!” Rahme says that she still isn’t entirely over these childhood experiences, “When I was asked, during the cover shoot, to lift my hair and show my ears, had a moment of hesitation,” she says. Calling attention to her “elf ears,” as her schoolmates called them, is something she hesitates to do, even years later. Apart from the inevitable little cruelties of childhood, she is grateful to have been able to play “virtually all sports” in Australia and especially to take dance classes, her other passion apart from acting. As for her best memories, they are linked to life in the open air, to moments spent on stage and to happy family barbecues.

Clearly, for Rahme, friends and family are her refuge, her anchor, her joy and her safest value. Everyone who knows the actress, including her 2.5 million Instagram followers, knows of her devotion to her nephews and nieces. Open the subject, you see waves of tenderness and pride flow out of her. Her nephews are obviously her biggest fans, “They tell me that am the best actress in the world!” she laughs. “My youngest niece, Avielle, who is only two years old, is very impressed to see me both on screen and in the real world, when one of my films is shown on television and I am with her in the same room. She cries when she sees me in danger, such as in a sequence where am drowning. She wonders how I change clothes so quickly, from one scene to another,” says the actress.

Which brings up the question that everyone is asking: Is marriage and children of her own on the cards? “I’m fascinated by some of my friends who lead mother’s lives, take care of their children full time, wake up at night... and they are fascinated by my own life, always on the move from one shoot to another. Actually, I would love to get married and have children. But for that, I will have to lower the speed, refocus on myself. Problem is, I find myself at a turning point in my career, which means that this is not possible at the moment. I’m not ready to take the plunge yet,” she tells us. She says she is sometimes annoyed, sometimes amused by people who remind her of the ticking of her biological clock and advise her to hurry. As for the ideal husband, the actress sees him above all as a partner and puts good communication skills at the top of the list. Apart from that, “No one is perfect and everyone has their qualities,” she says, acknowledging that this might be a corny idea, but that it forms her compass when it comes to relationships.