Abu Nowar was born in Oxford in 1981, from a Jordanian military family.
When Abu Nowar was 10 years old, his family moved to Jordan. He later returned to England to complete his A Levels and attend King’s College London where he focused on war studies. He used some of the strategic and organizational skills acquired at college during the making of his movie, Theeb. Early in his career, Abu Nowar and his friend Rupert Lloyd got jobs laying dance floors. When they won their first BAFTA, they would dance on a floor they had constructed years earlier at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
Abu Nowar returned to Amman in 2004, where he took up residence.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
