Nelly is the daughter of a Russian-Ukrainian mother from Odessa and an Egyptian father from Zagazig. She has one brother who is elder than her, his name is Ashraf who is a doctor and he migrated to United States. She lived with her family in Odessa, Ukraine till 16 years old but she spent summer school vacations with her family in Alexandria, Egypt. Then, her family came to Egypt and her father died. Nelly has drawn notice for her 2006 refusal to portray "seductive roles". In 2016, she served as jury member for the Horizons section at the 73rd edition of the Venice Film Festival.