Chaban was born on July 16, 1936 in Cairo, and had a long and storied career in his home country, acting on the stage, as well as most famously on both the big screen and small. He appeared in such movies as The Dawn Visitor (1973), Cats of Hamra Street (1973)The Malatily Bathhouse (1973), Mother of the Bride (1964), Midaq Alley (1963), and Cairo (1963). He retired from the screen in 2017. Chaban’s father was a renowned advertising designer for the Egyptian Gazette. The actor was educated at the Ismailia School and attended high school at Al-Tawfiqa, before attending art school due to his early talents at the College of Fine Arts, though his parents reportedly initially refused to let him pursue a path in the arts.
