He started his career as a monologue singer and headed for Cairo after Abo El Seoud El Ebiary, the comic screenwriter and his best friend and life partner had discovered him and had helped him to join Badi’a Masabny’s troupe. His break into the movie industry came when Fouad El-Gazaery gave him his first role in the movie “Khalf El-Habayeb” in 1939. He later joined Ali El-Kassar’s troupe and started to gain widespread recognition eventually becoming one of the most popular stars in the Arab world. A record 15 movies used his name in their titles to capitalize on his fame, most of them were written by Abo El Seoud El Ebiary.

After a military regime took over in the 1952 revolution, another conscription narrative was swiftly established. From 1955 to 1959, Ismail Yassin, who had made numerous films with his name in the title, released five films as light propaganda for the army, e.g., Ismail Yassine fil-Geish (Ismail Yassine In the Army) in 1955.

He was widely known for manipulation of his facial expressions and often made fun of his ‘large mouth’ in his films. His trademark gimmick was to act terrified bringing his wobbling knees together, stretching his shaking arms in front of him, stammering silently, and suddenly snapping out of his panic with a loud inhalation of air. In the 1960s his health began to deteriorate. He moved to Lebanon where he participated in a number of films, and later when he returned to Egypt he was heavily in debt. He died of a heart attack in 1972. His son, Yassine Ismail Yassine, is also a famous Egyptian film director.

A Google Doodle on 15 September 2011 commemorated Yasin’s 96th birth anniversary.