nyrabia graduated with a degree of acting from the higher institute for dramatic arts in damascus, syria. from 1997 to 2002, nyrabia wrote regularly for lebanese daily "as-safir". in 2004, he starred in yousry nasrallah's ""the gate of sun"". the film, an adaptation of elias khoury's novel with the same name, was screened at the 2004 cannes film festival. nyrabia also worked on several feature films as a first assistant director.