Rising Egyptian star Yasmina El-Abd, whose acting career has been on a roll since she was 12, stands as testimony to the fact that female empowerment is becoming a major theme in the Arab world’s film and TV output.

Born in Switzerland to an Egyptian family, El-Abd took acting classes in London and landed her first acting job in the well-received short “The Shadow of Cairo” playing a 12-year-old named Maya who seeks vengeance for her mothers’ death by becoming a superhero of sorts who chases down sexual harassers in Cairo.

A slew of roles have followed, including in powerful Arab patriarchy drama “Daughters of Abdul-Rahman”; as well as in HBO Max kids series “Theodosia,” where El-Abd is the only Egyptian cast member and plays one of the leads, Princess Safiya; the groundbreaking Arabic-language musical feature “Sukkar,” and, of course hit Netflix series “Finding Ola” – the second season of which...