Rateb was born in Cairo on 23 January 1949 and appeared in more than sixty films since 1979.

His well known roles in Television include the Israeli officer Isaac Bin-Amitay in the Egyptian Spy-Drama series Raafat El-Haggan.

He is also known for his duet with veteran Egyptian actor Adel Imam, appearing in more than 10 films together.

Hata La Yatir El-Dokhan (So The Smoke Doesn't Fly, 1984)

Directed by Ahmed Yehia
Written by Ihsan Abd al-Qudus
Starring Adel Imam, Soheir Ramzy, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of Hata la Yateer El-Dokhan)

Waheda Bewaheda (One for One, 1984)

Directed by Nader Galal
Writen by Nader Galal
Starring Adel Imam, Mervat Amin, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of Waheda Bewaheda)

Lailet El-Qabd Ala Bakiza We Zaghloul (The Night of Aressting Bakiza and Zaghloul, 1988)

Directed by Mohamed Abdel Aziz
Writen by Essad Youniss
Starrring Soheir El-Bably, Essad Youniss, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of Bakiza We Zaghloul)

El-Irhab We El-Kabab (Terrorism and Kabab, 1992)

Directed by Sherif Arafa
Writen by Wahid Hamid
Starring Adel Imam, Youssra, Kamal Al-Shennawi, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of El-Erhab W El-Kabab)

El-Irhaby (The Terrorist, 1994)

Directed by Nader Galal
Writen by Lenine El-Ramli
Starring Adel Imam, Sherine, Mohamed El Dafrawy, Ahmed Rateb

The film won Ahmed Rateb the Horus Award for Best Supporting Actor at the Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema, and earned Adel Imam Best Actor at the same festival

(Photo: poster of El-Erhaby)

Bakheet we Adila (Bakheet and Adila, 1995)

Directed by Nader Galal
Writen by Lenine El-Ramli
Starrring Adel Imam, Sherine, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of Bakheet We Adila)

Toyour El-Zalam (Birds of Darkness, 1995)

Directed by Sherif Arafa
Written by Wahid Hamid
Starring Adel Imam, Youssra, Ryad El Khouly, Ahmed Rateb

(Photo: poster of Toyour El-Zalam)

Omaret Yacoubian (The Yacoubian Building, 2006)

Directed by Marwan Hamed
Writen by Alaa' Al-Aswany (novel), Wahid Hamid
Starrring Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra, Ahmed Rateb

The film won 3 Horus Awards at the Cairo National Festival for Egyptian Cinema: Best Actor to Adel Imam, best Supporting Actor to Khaled El-Sawy and Best Director to Marwan Hamed. It also won The Bronze Zenith at Montréal World Film Festival, the Jury award for Best New Narrative Director at Tribecca Film Festival, as well as Best Debut at the Zurich Film Festival.

(Photo: poster of Omaret Yacoubian)

Fi-Sha’et Masr El-Gedida (In the Heliopolis Flat, 2007)

Directed by Mohamed Khan
Written by Wessam Soliman
Starring Khaled Aboul Naga, Ghada Adel, Salah Ayman, Marwa Hussein

The film was the Egyptian submission for the 80th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

(Photo: Still from Fi Sha'et Masr El-Gedida)

Nawara (2015)

Directed by Hala Khalil
Writen by Hala Khalil
Starring Menna Shalabi, Abuelhassan Abbas, Ameer Salah Eldin, Ahmed Rateb

The film was nominated for a Best Fiction Feature Muhr Award at Dubai International Film festival, where it also won Menna Shalaby Best Actress award.

(Photo: Still from Nawara)