Omar Sharif a foreigner of some sort. He bridled at travel restrictions imposed by the government of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, leading to self-exile in Europe. He was a lifelong horse racing enthusiast, and at one time ranked among the world's top contract bridge players. Omar Sharif, whose adopted surname means "noble" or "nobleman", was born as Michel Dimitri Chalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt, to a Melkite Catholic family, either of Syrian or Lebanese descent: he belonged to a small ethnocultural minority known as the Levantine 'Antiochian' Greek Catholics of Egypt ("Rum Katuleek"), an offshoot of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Michel Soto Chalhoub Management Agency, and as a registered Civil Engineer (P.E.) and Structural Engineer (S.E.) in the State of California, he worked as a chief engineer in disaster relief missions in the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Landers earthquake, and the Northridge earthquake, three major natural disasters that claimed lives and billions of dollars in property and public facility damage. Following disaster relief missions in the USA and in other countries in Latin America, in Europe and the Middle East, Chalhoub became interested in issues of public concern especially as they relate to public health and safety. He formalized his public service experience