Hiba Abouk

Hiba Aboukhris Benslimane was eighteen when she packed her belongings from the family apartment and decided acting was serious business. For a family with Tunisian and Libyan roots settled in Madrid, the announcement sounded like an absolute disaster.

But she came from the rigorous training of the Lycée Français de Madrid and spoke five languages fluently. So she combined her initial auditions with classical texts at RESAD and courses in Arabic Philology. In early castings, she was asked to use fake accents she didn't have, or was judged by her features before she was even asked for her first line.

She needed only a handful of auditions to understand the board.

Her screen career began with minor roles in TV comedies such as La isla de los nominados in 2010 and a brief appearance on Cheers in 2011.

Shortly after, she starred in the adventure miniseries El corazón del océano in 2011, though it took three years to reach the air because of scheduling delays. Between 2012 and 2013 she played Candela in Con el culo al aire, where she learned the demands of ensemble comedy through twelve-hour days on set.

The Price of Prime Time

In February 2014, Telecinco launched El Príncipe, and the drama blew up the ratings. The production drew more than five million viewers per week, a statistical benchmark that linear television has not come close to since.

Taking on the role of Fátima Ben Barek brought intense fame that turned her routine upside down overnight. Photographers camped outside her building, magazine covers fought over her face, and every private move became subject to public scrutiny.

And typecasting threatened to swallow her whole.

Because Spanish networks tend to wear out the same mold until it breaks. They kept offering her variations of the same woman in conflict with her religious surroundings, but she turned down contracts to avoid getting trapped in that thematic dead end.

Escaping to Europe and returning to the set

Paris became a professional and personal refuge.

In France she looked for projects far from the Madrid media spotlight and expanded her work toward international productions. In 2019 she took part in the Canadian feature film Malek, directed by Guy Édoin.

In 2021, she headlined the French miniseries Yo maté a mi marido for Calle 13, filmed entirely in French with an uncompromising physical approach.

Her return to Spanish television came in 2024, when she co-starred alongside Belén Rueda in the drama Eva & Nicole, set against the power struggles of Marbella's nightlife in the 1980s. In 2025 she added a role in the series The Agency.

In 2026 she completed filming of the feature Tarántula in the Valencian Community, a psychological thriller directed by Tirso Calero, which wrapped its shooting schedule with an independent budget of less than two million euros.