Born in Cairo, Rosaline has lived in Egypt, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

Before her MFA in Acting from LAMDA, she had an undergraduate degree in classical archaeology and ancient history from Oxford, and a master’s in colonial history from the LSE. Her theatre work in the UK ranges from such theatres as the Oxford Playhouse, Theatre 503, and the Pleasance to tours with RSC Open Stages and at the Edinburgh Festival.

Since 2019, Elbay has starred as Amani in Hulu/A24 multiple-award-winning series Ramy. In Egypt, she starred in Marwan Hamed’s feature film Diamond Dust and Karim El Shennawy’s MBC series Qabeel as Sara, opposite Mohammed Mamdouh, as well as in the music video for Massar Egbari’s ‘Fakra’.

Elbay’s upcoming projects include a starring role alongside Giancarlo Esposito, Paz Vega and Rufus Sewell in Netflix’s new series Jigsaw, currently shooting in New York. She is also a producer on two untitled series with A24 and Rise Films.

Elbay hosted the opening ceremony of the 2019 El Gouna Film Festival, and the Cairo International Film Festival appointed her as its face for young filmmakers during its 40th and 41st Editions.