full name: Maya Hussam Asmar assumed name: Maya Nasri birth: Augest 14th 1979 place: Lebanon nationality: Lebanese work: Singer website: www.mayanasri.net manger: Simon Asmar Maya lived in Tripoli till she finished high school, she went to Ste. Famille school, and was always on top of her class. When she finished high school, Maya moved to Beirut, and joined the "Lebanese University, the fine arts institute" to study "Stage, TV and Cinema Acting and Directing". She is still trying her best to finish her university degree, Maya explains: "I learned from my parents that, education is important and indispensable, no matter how successful and well off a person is." During these years, Maya worked to support herself, and pay for her education; she did modeling, TV Commercials, and acted in TV series, cinema, and theater. Maya describes these different experiences saying: "acting helped me a lot later on when I became a singer; I learned how to deal with camera, and face the audience in live performances." She add: "I have great passion for acting that is equal to my passion for singing if not more, I dream of performing in a musical that will make use of my acting and singing talents." Unlike many female singers in the Arab world, Maya was encouraged by her family to enter the domain of singing, and never had to struggle to convince them to let her peruse singing as a career They sensed her talent develops through out the years, and encouraged her to participate in "Kas Al-Nojom" competition in 1998. This talent TV show was the starting point for Maya´s singing career. In this program Maya won 3 trophies; the "Layla Murad" category trophy, the audience trophy, and eventually she surpassed all other contestants and won the "trophy of trophies" which was the ultimate prize of this competition. Maya recalls: "the competition was very tough, and there were many participants who are older and more experienced and has actually studied music. Winning in this competition meant a lot to me." With the support of the great director and star maker "Simon Asmar", Maya was introduced to the Arabic musical scene, and her first release "Akhbarak Eih", received great success, and Maya became a prominent star overnight. Stardom did not change Maya she is still modest and simple in her relationships with others, Maya say´s: "till date I go about town as a normal person, forgetting that I am famous, and it still surprises me sometimes, that people recognize me and start talking to me, for a moment I try to remember if I know this person?!!. Then I realize that this person is a fan that recognizes me from TV. It feels great to be loved by people, yet sometimes it takes away your privacy." Maya is always accompanied by a family member when she is touring, her father usually accompanying her if she was touring inside Lebanon, and her Mother would be with her if she was touring Outside Lebanon. Maya expresses her thoughts about this love and support from her family saying: "I was always the center of attention in the family, due to my multiple talents; I liked to sing, dance and loved posing for my father´s camera.