Born in 1977. He graduated in 1999 with a degree of acting from the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus, Syria. He and his partner and wife, Diana El Jeiroudi, launched the DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival in early 2008. The fifth edition of the festival, planned for March 2012, was cancelled in protest of the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters during the on-going Syrian uprising. Instead, Nyrabia advocated for Syrian documentary films to be shown in festivals around the world in what was termed the ‘Dox Box Global Day’. Nyrabia was reportedly arrested by the Syrian authorities on 23 August 2012 and released on 12 September. In 2002, he co-founded Proaction Film, the first independent film production and distribution company in Syria. His career really got into gear with the international co-production documentary Dolls – A Woman from Damascus directed by Diana El Jeiroudi (the Silver Wolf Competition–IDFA 2007). Today Orwa continues to produce and co-produce documentary and fiction films.
