CAIRO, Egypt -- In a country that proudly calls itself the "Hollywood of the East," a group of actresses has touched off a furor by appearing on television and movies with a new look: the conservative Islamic veil.

Trading in the glamorous TV and movie star look for one that is more Islamic, at least five actresses are at the heart of the controversy after adopting a devout style of dress not only in their personal lives but also as part of the characters they portray. Their decision has sparked a huge public debate over the role of religion in art and society in one of the most important cultural centers in the Muslim world.

The most common form of "wearing the veil" in Egypt is known as higab or hijab. It includes a headscarf and a loose-fitting, long-sleeved top and pants or a long skirt. The most conservative -- and far less common -- form of veil is niqab, a face-covering veil, usually black, that leaves only the eyes uncovered. The actresses have adopted the higab, which lets the face show.

While seen as a straightforward expression of religious devotion by many Muslims, donning the veil is seen by some, especially in the West, as a rejection of a secular public life. The issue has become a flashpoint after a number of British officials and politicians criticized face-covering veils as a sign of separation and said they hindered communication. In France, the government and French Muslims have been in contention for years over a ban on veils in public schools.

Discussion of the actresses in Egypt has reached a fever pitch in part because many of them returned to television wearing the veil during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended here on Oct. 23. Ramadan also is the time of year when many Muslims watch the most TV. A second debate -- separate from the one about the actresses -- has been raging over the face-covering veil and whether it is required by Islam or not.

Critics of the actresses say they are shackling Egyptian art and expression with self-imposed restrictions. The actresses and their supporters say their work is being unfairly attacked. It is only natural, they say, for art to mirror Egyptian society, where many, if not most, women are veiled.

A TV star who goes by one name, Sabreen, stopped acting when she first began wearing a veil in her private life about five years ago. She returned to TV this season in the role of a devout wife who persuades her husband to make amends for past mistakes by paying compensation to those he has wronged. Best known for her TV portrayal several years ago of the legendary Egyptian singer Umm Kalthoum, Ms. Sabreen says she will no longer accept parts that involve singing and dancing. Kissing, hugging and holding hands with male actors also are out -- a position she says she took even before the veil.

Some of the actresses have adopted the veil only recently, including Hanan Turk, who decided to veil herself while at the peak of her fame, with two productions in which she was appearing still in the works. Another actress, Suhair Ramzy, has returned to acting more than a decade after trading in the miniskirts and shorts she wore in some movies for pantsuits and a headscarf. She has said she now regrets some of her previous work.

Suhair el-Bably, a fourth actress, acknowledges that when she quit acting and donned the veil years ago, she stopped shaking hands with men and came to believe that art was haram, or religiously forbidden -- a position that shocked and offended many artists and liberals. She says she has moderated her view after studying Islam further.

In a televised interview, Mona Abdel Ghany, a singer and actress who donned the veil, praised the actor who played the role of her husband in an earlier TV series for lowering his gaze when talking to her and for suggesting that, in one scene, he would tug at her veil instead of holding her arm so there would be no touching. The actor, Hassan Youssef, also has made a comeback after quitting acting and now is known for his own religious conservatism. He used to be famous for playing playboys in black-and-white movies back when Egyptian cinema produced symbols of seduction such as the actress Hend Rostoum, known as "Marilyn Monroe of the East."

Indeed, Egypt itself, once seen as a cosmopolitan trendsetter within in the Arab world, in recent years has become increasingly religious and conservative. Muslim preachers play a more visible role in public life, as more people turn to them with mundane questions such as whether women can wear makeup or change the shape of their eyebrows. Many in Egypt's artistic community now feel threatened by the role Islam plays in setting social standards.

The debate has played out in newspapers and magazines and on TV talk shows and the Internet, at times pitting one artist against another in heated exchanges. The topic of the veiled actresses has become a staple of celebrity interviews, with one side defending the actresses' personal freedom and the other objecting to their visibility.

"The booby-trapped messages of the Veiled Actresses' Serials," screamed a headline in the Egyptian weekly magazine Rosa El Yossef. In a review, the commentator Wael Lotfy wrote of Ms. Sabreen's television series, "It belongs to a kind of art that is presented in school plays to preach to the students and instill good values in them." Ms. Sabreen said her series didn't neglect the entertainment factor and had a light comedy feel.

Devout actors and actresses respond that their work isn't getting a fair viewing and say the veiled actresses' shows have been kept off Egypt's government-run channels deliberately so they weren't more widely viewed in Ramadan slots. Ms. Sabreen's series appeared only on lesser-watched private stations, such as Al-Manar Television, the satellite network operated by the Lebanese Islamist militant group Hezbollah.

Members of the committee that chooses shows for government channels have said there is no prejudice against the veiled actresses. They say they select shows solely on artistic merit.

Creators of the actresses's TV work say it is only natural for TV shows to reflect the change in Egyptian society. "Half of the women in my family are veiled and the other half are not. That's normal," says Adel Kotb, the director of Ms. Sabreen's series.

Ms. Sabreen began to wear a veil while still basking in acclaim for her portrayal of the late Umm Kalthoum. "I was living a strong internal struggle. 'I should do it today. No, tomorrow. No, the day after,'" she recalls. "I felt like I have to please God. He has given me so much: a marriage, pregnancy, happiness, fame and glory. I felt I should do something."

She says her goals as an actress have changed. "It's not about being in a great scene or having people say I act well anymore," she says. "All that I care about is to do work that will bring me rewards in this life and the afterlife and that presents to the people respectable values and messages."

That is precisely what worries Tarek el-Shinnawi, a movie and art critic. "Applying religious criteria to art is dangerous," he says. "They're trying to outdo the already conservative society by presenting an even more conservative art ... which can in turn make the society more conservative."