famous iranians in movies

Daryush Shokof is an artist and film-maker who left Iran in the 1970s for the U.S. and under the name of AliReza Shokoufandeh. He studied mathematics and physics at E.N.M.U. and then went on to get a masters degree in management from U.D. in Texas. He became a full-time artist in Germany where he moved to from New York in early 1980s. He coined the term maximalism in the arts in 1990 in Cologne Germany, and together with many of the artists of the time they made many exhibitions under the maximalists at Gallery Schulze in Cologne in 1990, both in Europe and in the U.S. He first made a name for himself as a script-writer by copying works from two great directors of the time Federico Fellini, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, changing the names of the characters and some situations and presented them to his father as his own works, which made his father believe he was a genius. He was soon the talk of a bigger circle of friends and family and had to write at a level to match his great idols from the age of eleven years. None of his writings ever showed any promise until finally and at age 42 he wrote a story which attracted the attention of two of the legendary names of cinema. Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn both wanted to have the lead in Seven Servants. Quinn played the role along with David Warner, who played the role offered to Norman Mailer (who was so in admiration of the story that refused to play the role saying his acting was not up to the task). In the next 10 years he did more than 12 feature films and 10 short films with great originality both in writing and directing. He has made his movies through the help of private friends and contribution and cooperation from a great many professionals who believed and supported in his abilities as a film-maker. He has never had any of his movies released to the public and has never received any funding for any of his films from any official film industry companies, or from any country. He continues making films under amazing conditions, which in itself is truly a story to make a film about.

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.

Golshifteh started her acting career in theater at the age of 6 and has always kept a strong link with theater, but it was at the age of 14 that she acted in her first film The Pear Tree (1998), for which she won the prize for the Best Actress from the international section of the Fajr film festival, immediately making her one of the stars of Iranian cinema. Since then she has played in more than 15 films, many of which have been screened or awarded at international festivals. Amongst her latest films are Bahman Ghobadi's Half Moon (2006) (winner of the Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián film festival 2006), Dariush Mehrjui's controversial The Music Man (2007), still banned in Iran, and the late Rasool Mollagholi Poor's M like Mother (2006), which after a huge success in Iran was chosen to represent Iran for the Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards in 2008. After playing in Body of Lies (2008) by Ridley Scott, Golshifteh became the first Iranian star to act in a major Hollywood production. Subsequently she was banned from her country. Her last film in Iran About Elly (2009) won a Silver Bear in Berlin and the Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca (2009). Golshifteh graduated from music school, she sings and plays the piano amongst other instruments. She is also fluent in French and English and lives in Paris now.

Asghar Farhadi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Iranian cinema as well as world cinema in the 21st century. His films have gained recognition for their focus on the human condition, and portrayals of intimate and challenging stories of internal family conflicts. In 2012, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. That same year, he also received the Legion of Honour from France.

Farhadi was born in Isfahan, Iran. At the age of 15, in 1987, he joined the Isfahan branch office of the Iranian Youth Cinema Society, which had been established for 4 years earlier and he made several short films. He is also a graduate of theatre, with a BA in dramatic arts and MA in stage direction from University of Tehran and Tarbiat Modares University, respectively.

While completing his studies, he wrote a number of radio plays for Iran's national broadcasting service and directed several television programs. In 2001 Farhadi co-wrote the screenplay for the political satire Ertefa-e past (Low Heights, 2002), with famed war film director, Ebrahim Hatamikia.

Farhadi's first feature film, Dancing in the Dust (2003), tells the story of a young man who is forced to divorce his wife and go hunting snakes in the desert in order to repay his debts to his in-laws. His next film, The Beautiful City (2004), is about a young man who is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.

Farhadi's breakthrough came with his third film, About Elly (2009), which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of a group of friends who go on a weekend trip to the Caspian Sea, and the secrets that are revealed over the course of the weekend.

Farhadi's next film, A Separation (2011), won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film tells the story of a middle-class Iranian couple who are going through a divorce, and the moral dilemmas they face as they try to decide what is best for their young daughter.

Farhadi's subsequent films, The Past (2013) and The Salesman (2016), were also critically acclaimed. The Salesman won a second Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Farhadi's latest film, A Hero (2021), was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of a man who is released from prison and tries to win back his wife's trust.

Farhadi's films are known for their their complex and suspenseful plots, their realistic characters, and their exploration of moral dilemmas. His films often deal with themes of family, relationships, and social class.

Farhadi is a master of creating suspense, and his films are often compared to those of Alfred Hitchcock. He is also a skilled director of actors, and his films have featured some of the most celebrated Iranian actors, including Shahab Hosseini, Leila Hatami, and Taraneh Alidoosti.

In 2022, Farhadi was accused of plagiarism by a former student, who claimed that he had stolen the idea for his film A Hero from a documentary she had made. Farhadi denied the allegations, and a court in Iran eventually ruled in his favor. However, the allegations have tarnished Farhadi's reputation and raised questions about his creative process.

Asghar Farhadi is one of the most important filmmakers of our time. His films are both entertaining and thought-provoking, and they offer a unique insight into Iranian society and culture. He is a true auteur, and his work is sure to be studied and admired for many years to come.

Dariush Mehrjui was born to a middle-class family in Tehran. He showed interest in painting miniatures, music, and playing santoor and piano. He spent a lot of time going to the movies, particularly American films which were un-dubbed and inter-spliced with explanatory title cards that explained the plot throughout the films. At this time Mehrjui started to learn English so as to better enjoy the films. The film that had the strongest impact on him as a child was Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves. At the age of 12, Mehrjui built a 35 mm projector, rented two-reel films and began selling tickets to his neighborhood friends. In 1959, Mehrjui moved to the United States to study at University of California, Los Angeles' (UCLA) Department of Cinema. One of his teachers there was Jean Renoir, whom Mehrjui credited for teaching him how to work with actors. Mehrjui was dissatisfied with the film program due to its emphasis on the technical aspects of film and the quality of most of the teachers. He switched his major to philosophy and graduated from UCLA in 1964. Mehrjui started his own literary magazine in 1964, Pars Review. The magazine's intention was to bring contemporary Persian literature to western readers. During this time he wrote his first script with the intention of filming it in Iran. He moved back to Tehran in 1965. Back in Tehran, Mehrjui found employment as a journalist and screenwriter. From 1966 to 1968 he was a teacher at Tehran's Center for Foreign Language Studies, where he taught classes in literature and English language. He also gave lectures on films and literature at the Center for Audiovisual Studies through the University of Tehran.

Dariush Mehrjui made his debut in 1966 with Diamond 33, a big budget parody of the James Bond film series. The film was not financially successful. But his second feature film, Gaav, brought him national and international recognition. The film Gaav, a symbolic drama, is about a simple villager and his nearly mythical attachment to his cow. The film is adapted from a short story by renowned Iranian literary figure Gholamhossein Sa'edi. Sa'edi was a friend of Mehrjui and suggested the idea to him when Mehrjui was looking for a suitable second film, and they collaborated on the script. Through Sa'edi, Mehrjui met the actors Ezzatolah Entezami and Ali Nassirian, who were performing in one of Sa'edi's plays. Mehrjui would work with Entezami and Nassirian throughout his career. The film's score was composed by musician Hormoz Farhat. The film was completed in 1969. In the film, Entezami stars as Masht Hassan, a peasant in an isolated village in southern Iran. Hassan has a close relationship with his cow, which is his only possession (Mehrjui has said that Entezami even resembled a cow in the film). When other people from Hassan's village discover that the cow has been mysteriously killed, they decide to bury the cow and tell Hassan that it has run away. While in mourning for the cow, Hassan goes to the barn where it was kept and begins to assume the cow's identity. When his friends attempt to take him to a hospital, Hassan commits suicide. Gaav was banned for over a year by the Ministry of Culture and Arts, despite being one of the first two film in Iran to receive government funding. This was most likely due to Sa'edi being a controversial figure in Iran. His work was highly critical of the Pahlavi government, and he had been arrested sixteen times. When it was finally released in 1970, it was highly praised and won an award at the Ministry of Culture's film festival, but it was still denied an export permit. In 1971, the film was smuggled out of Iran and submitted to the Venice Film Festival where, without programming or subtitles, it became the largest event of that year's festival. It won the International Critics Award at Venice, and later that year, Entezami won the Best Actor Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. Along with Masoud Kimiai's Qeysar and Nasser Taqvai's Calm in Front of Others, the film Gaav initiated the Iranian New Wave movement and is considered a turning point in the history of Iranian cinema. The public received it with great enthusiasm, despite the fact that it had ignored all the traditional elements of box office attraction. It was screened internationally and received high praise from many film critics. Several of Iran's prominent actors (Entezami, Nassirian, Jamshid Mashayekhi, and Jafar Vali) played roles in the film. While waiting for Gaav to be released and gaining international recognition, Mehrjui was busy directing two more films. In 1970 he shot Agha-ye Hallou (Mr. Naive), a comedy which starred and was written by Ali Nassirian. The film also starred Fakhri Khorvash and Entezami. In the film, Nassirian plays a simple, naive villager who goes to Tehran to find a wife. While in the big city he is treated roughly and constantly fooled by local hustlers and con artists. When he goes into a dress shop to purchase a wedding gown, he meets a beautiful young woman (Fakhri Khorvash) and proposes to her. The young woman turns out to be a prostitute who rejects him and takes his money, spending him back to his village empty handed but more world-wise. Agha-ye Hallou was screened at the Sepas Film Festival in Tehran in 1971 where it won awards for Best Film and Best Director. Later that year it was screened at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival. It was a commercial success in Iran. After finishing Agha-ye Hallou in 1970, Mehrjui traveled to Berkeley, California and began writing an adaptation of Georg Büchner's Woyzeck for a modern-day Iranian setting. He went back to Iran later in 1970 to shoot Postchi (The Postman), which starred Nassirian, Entezami and Jaleh Sam. In the film, Nassirian plays Taghi, a miserable civil servant whose life spirals into chaos. He spends his days as an unhappy mail carrier and has two night jobs in order to pay his debts. His misery has caused impotence and he is experimented upon by an amateur herbalist who is one of his employers. His only naive hope is that he will win the national lottery. When he discovers that his wife is the mistress of his town's wealthiest landowner, Taghi escapes to the local forest where he experiences a brief moment of peace and harmony. His wife comes looking for him, and in a fit of rage Taghi murders her and is eventually caught for his crime. Postchi faced the same censorship issues as Gaav, but was eventually released in 1972. It was screened in Iran at the 1st Tehran International Film Festival and at the Sepas Film festival. Internationally it was screened at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a special mention, the 22nd Berlin International Film Festival, where it received the Interfilm Award, and the 1972 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight. In 1973 Mehrjui began directing what was to be his most acclaimed film, The Cycle Mehrjui got the idea for the film when a friend suggest that he investigate the black market and illicit blood traffic in Iran. Horrified with what he found, Mehrjui took the idea to Gholamhossein Sa'edi, who had written a play on the subject, "Aashghaal-duni". The play became the basis for the script, which then had to be approved by the Ministry of Culture before production could begin. With pressure from the Iranian medical community, approval was delayed for a year until Mehrjui began shooting the film in 1974. The film stars Saeed Kangarani, Esmail Mohammadi, Ezzatollah Entezami, Ali Nassirian and Fourouzan. In the film, Kangarani plays Ali, a teenager who has brought his dying father (Mohammadi) to Tehran in order to find medical treatment. They are too poor to afford any help from the local hospital, but Dr. Sameri (Entezami) offers them money in exchange for giving illegal and unsafe blood donations at a local blood bank. Ali begins giving blood and eventually works for Dr. Sameri in luring blood donors, despite spreading diseases in the process. Ali meets another doctor (Nassirian) who is attempting to establish a legitimate blood bank, and helps Dr. Sameri in sabotaging his plans. Ali also meets and becomes the lover of a young nurse, played by Fourouzan. As Ali becomes more and more involved in the illegal blood trafficking, his father's health worsens until he finally dies and Ali must decide what path his life will take. The films title, Dayereh mina, refers to a line from a poem by Hafiz Shirazi: "Because of the cycle of the universe, my heart is bleeding." The film was co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture but encountered opposition from the Iranian medical establishment and was banned for three years. It was finally released in 1977, with help from pressure from the Carter administration to increase human rights and intellectual freedoms in Iran. Because of a crowded film marketplace, the film premiered in Paris, and then was released internationally where it received rave reviews and was compared to Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Accattone. The film won the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 1978. During this time, Iran was going through great political changes. The events leading up to the Iranian Revolution of 1979 were causing a gradual loosening of strict censorship laws, which Mehrjui and other artists had great hopes for. While waiting for The Cycle to be released, Mehrjui worked on several documentaries. Alamut, a documentary on the Isamailis, was commissioned by Iranian National Television in 1974. He was also commissioned by the Iranian Blood Transfusion Center to create three short documentaries about safe and healthy blood donations. The films were used by the World Health Organization in several countries for years. In 1978, the Iranian Ministry of Health commissioned Mehrjui to make the documentary Peyvast kolieh, about kidney transplants.

After the Islamic revolution Mehrjui directed Hayat-e Poshti Madrese-ye Adl-e Afagh (The School We Went to) in 1980. The film stars Ezzatollah Entezami and Ali Nassirian and is from a story by Fereydoon Doostdar. The film was sponsored by the Iranian Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, whose filmmaking department was co-founded by Abbas Kiarostami. The film, seen as an allegory for the recent revolution, is about a group of high school students who join forces and rebel against their authoritative and abusive school principal. Film critic Hagir Daryoush criticized both the film and Mehrjui as propaganda and a work of the new regime more than Mehrjui himself. In 1981, Mehrjui and his family traveled to Paris and remained there for several years, along with several other Iranian refugees in France. During this time he made a feature-length semi-documentary about the poet Arthur Rimbaud for French TV, Voyage au Pays de Rimbaud in 1983. It was shown at the 1983 Venice Film Festival and at the 1983 London Film Festival. In 1985, Mehrjui and his family returned to Iran and Mehrjui resumed his film career under the new regime. In Hamoun (1990), a portrait of an intellectual whose life is falling apart, Mehrjui sought to depict his generation's post-revolutionary turn from politics to mysticism. Hamoon was voted the best Iranian film ever by readers and contributors to the Iranian journal Film Monthly. In 1995, Mehrjui made Pari, an unauthorized loose film adaptation of J. D. Salinger's book Franny and Zooey. Though the film could be distributed legally in Iran since the country has no official copyright relations with the United States, Salinger had his lawyers block a planned screening of the film at Lincoln Center in 1998. Mehrjui called Salinger's action "bewildering," explaining that he saw his film as "a kind of cultural exchange." His follow-up film, 1997's Leila, is a melodrama about an urban, upper-middle-class couple who learn that the wife is unable to bear children. Modern Iranian cinema begins with Dariush Mehrjui. Mehrjui introduced realism, symbolism, and the sensibilities of art cinema. His films have some resemblance with those of Rosselini, De Sica and Satyajit Ray, but he also added something distinctively Iranian, in the process starting one of the greatest modern film waves. The one constant in Mehrjui's work has been his attention to the discontents of contemporary, primarily urban, Iran. His film The Pear Tree (1999) has been hailed as the apotheosis of the director's examination of the Iranian bourgeoisie. Since his film The Cow in 1969, Mehrjui, along with Nasser Taqvai and Masoud Kimiai, has been instrumental in paving the way for the Iranian cinematic renaissance, so called the "Iranian New Wave."

Marjane Satrapi was born on 22 November 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She is a director and actress, known for Persepolis (2007), The Voices (2014) and Chicken with Plums (2011). She is married to Mattias Ripa. She was previously married to Reza.

Shohreh Aghdashloo was born Shohreh Vaziri-Tabar on May 11, 1952 in Tehran, Iran. In the 1970s at age 20, she achieved nationwide stardom in her homeland of Iran, starring in some prominent pictures such as The Report (1977) directed by the renowned Abbas Kiarostami, which won critics awards at the Moscow Film Festival. In 1978, she won wider acclaim and established herself as one of Iran's leading ladies with Desiderium (1978) directed by the late Ali Hatami. During the 1978 Islamic revolution, Aghdashloo left Iran for England, to complete her education. Her interest in politics and her concern for social injustice in the world would lead her to receive a Bachelor's degree in International Relations.

She continued to pursue her acting career, which eventually brought her to Los Angeles, California in 1987. She went on to marry actor/playwright Houshang Touzie, performing in a number of his plays, successfully taking them to national and international stages. However, this was not easy getting work in Hollywood as a Middle Eastern actress with an accent; she had roles in some decent, though not great, films, including Twenty Bucks (1993), Surviving Paradise (2000) and Maryam (2002). She received good reviews for her 12 episodes on the fourth season of the Fox television series 24 (2001) as Dina Araz, a terrorist undercover as a well-to-do housewife and mother in Los Angeles. She had to wait quite some time to receive her break in Hollywood.

And finally, years after having read the acclaimed novel "House of Sand and Fog", DreamWorks were in the process of bringing the story to the silver screen. After having cast Ben Kingsley (as Massoud Amir Behrani) and Jennifer Connelly in the lead roles, they were looking for a relatively unknown Iranian actress to play Kingsley's wife, Nadi. Shohreh Aghdashloo was duly cast. She stole the limelight and earned herself an Academy Award nomination as best supporting actress amongst many other prestigious awards, including the Independent Spirit Award as best supporting actress in a feature film, the New York and Los Angeles film critics award and others.

Nooshin Navidi is known for Young Republic (2007).

BARRY NAVIDI - PRODUCER As a producer, friend, and confidant to some of the greatest legends of world cinema, Barry Navidi has been privileged to work with John Huston, Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum, Michael Caine, Paul Scofield, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, John Hurt, Sean Connery, Jeremy Irons, Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Chastain, and many others. Barry Navidi graduated in 1985 from The London Film School, receiving a Postgraduate Degree in the Technique and the Art of Filmmaking. While in film school Navidi forged a long and lasting friendship with Danny Huston, which led to a professional and personal relationship with the entire Huston family. In 1987, Navidi produced John Huston's last film as an actor, "Mister Corbett's Ghost" financed by John Paul Getty, Jr. and directed by Danny Huston. The same year Navidi served as production consultant on "Mr. North", starring Angelica Huston, Lauren Bacall and Robert Mitchum and finally, he worked on the production of John Huston's last directorial effort, "The Dead,"(1988) starring Angelica Huston, based on the story by James Joyce. In 1990, Navidi moved to Los Angeles, where during the next four years he developed and packaged a number of film projects at Columbia Pictures, Paramount, Universal, Fox and Warner Bros. In 1993 he met Marlon Brando and worked as a production consultant, on the production of "Don Juan DeMarco" (1994), "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996), as producer on "Divine Rapture" (1996), and again as production consultant on "Free Money" (1998) and "The Score" (2001); all films starring Marlon Brando. In 2001, Navidi co-produced, with Debra Winger, "Big Bad Love," a film directed by Arliss Howard, starring Debra Winger and Rosanna Arquette. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001. In 2004, Navidi produced the critically acclaimed adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Joseph Fiennes. The film premiered both at the Venice International Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival in 2004, and, subsequently, had a Royal Premiere in London in the presence of HRH Prince Charles benefiting The Prince's Trust. In 2008 Navidi produced "Wilde Salomé" based on Oscar Wilde's play 'Salomé" starring Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain, directed by Al Pacino. The film launched the career and ensuing stardom of Jessica Chastain, premiering at both the Venice International Film Festival and Dublin Film Festival in 2012. The film version of the play "Salomé" also produced by Navidi was completed in 2013 and premiered in 2014 at the British Film Institute, London. Barry Navidi and Al Pacino, as producing partners, have a number of film and TV projects currently in development, including "King Lear" based on the play by William Shakespeare, " Modigliani,' "Family Flaw," and mini-series "Man On The Rock" based on the last years of Napoleon. London and Los Angeles based Barry Navidi is a member of The British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA), Ambassador to Prince Charles' Trust, The BFI Friend and Board of Directors, Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles .

Mark Amin is the founder and CEO of Sobini Films. He produced and made his feature-length debut as a writer and director with Emperor, released by Briarcliff Entertainment and Universal Pictures in August 2020. His recent producing credits also include Universal's JT Leroy starring Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern, Sony Pictures Classics' Miles Ahead starring Don Cheadle and Ewan McGregor, and IFC Films' Good Kill starring Ethan Hawke and Nellie Bly, a collaboration with Darren Aronofsky's Protozoa Pictures.

Amin oversees a slate of pictures in development including Z, a theatrical reboot of the lucrative Zorro franchise and In addition to his work at Sobini, Amin served as Vice Chairman of Lionsgate Entertainment. During Amin's nine year term, Lionsgate produced and distributed such critically acclaimed films as Monster's Ball, which earned Halle Barry an Academy Award for Best Actress, and Crash, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Prior to his work with Lionsgate and Sobini, Amin founded Trimark Holdings, Inc. and served as the company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until the company merged with Lionsgate. Amin's credits from his time at Trimark include the critically acclaimed Eve's Bayou starring Samuel Jackson, the Emmy Award winning The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn starring Sidney Poitier, and Frida, distributed by Miramax Films, which garnered six Academy Award nominations.

Adrian Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Rosemarie Pasdar (née Sbresny), who owns a travel agency, and Homayoon Pasdar, a prominent heart surgeon. His father is Iranian and his mother, who was born in Germany, is of German, and some Polish, descent. At the age of 2, his father moved the family to Powelton, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In high school, he excelled at football, eventually leading to a football scholarship at the University of Florida in 1983. Football may have been a promising future, had it not been for a terrible accident during his freshman year that left his face scarred and his legs badly injured. A very driven Adrian finished his freshman year in a wheelchair, doing intensive physical therapy and turning his attention to campus stage productions and rediscovered a childhood interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group "People's Light and Theatre Company". Here, he worked on sound, lighting and set construction. While constructing a set, he cut off the end of his left thumb. Adrian, having the ability to turn tragedy into triumph, used his medical compensation to pay for attendance at the famous Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in Top Gun (1986). Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in Solarbabies (1986), Streets of Gold (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 cult vampire movie Near Dark (1987), with Adrian in the lead role of "Caleb Colton". He also appeared in Vital Signs (1990). Adrian has always been an actor ahead of his time, opting for roles in independent and cable movies long before they were considered fashionable for feature actors to do. In 1992, feeling completely out-of-touch with reality, Adrian left Hollywood to return to New York. He worked as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as "Frankie" in Brian De Palma's Carlito's Way (1993). Another major break came in 1995, when Adrian was cast as the title character on the short-lived Fox series Profit (1996). He continues to act in supporting roles and has now added directing to his already impressive body of work. He wrote and directed the short film Beyond Belief (1999) and also directed a feature film entitled Cement (2000).

Taies Farzan was born in Tehran, Iran. Her family moved to Turkey and thereafter to Germany. She speaks Persian, Turkish, German, English, Kurdish. She was on stage at the age of 14 in Cologne Germany and appeared in lead positions in more than 15 stage pieces until she met Daryush Shokof in a casting for a film which got her interest bent more towards the movies rather than Theater. She has been a long associate of Shokof with whom she produced 2 movies and acted in 2 films of Shokof as the lead (Tenussian Vacuvasco, and Breathful). She has two sisters Doris and Candice. Her mother is Farkhondeh and they all live in Germany. Her father was a famous Iranian actor, Dubbing master, who also Directed films before they left Iran after the revolution. Her mother was a well known Radio personality as well as a popular Voice Dub personality in the Iranian cinema before the revolution.

Narges Rashidi was born in Iran, settled in 1987 with her family at first in Turkey and a year later to Germany. After graduation she moved to Berlin and studied acting. In 2005 she attended in Los Angeles the Master Class with MK Lewis. In 2007 she received the award for Best Young Actress at the New York International Independent Film Video Festival for her role as Lolita in A2Z. The German public knows her, among other things through her roles in Schwarze Schafe, Schimanski: Schicht im Schacht, Breathful, Dating Lancelot and KDD. In 2012 Narges Rashidi will be one of the main cast of a new Sat.1 series.

She played in the woman-band "Even Cowgirls get the blues", which also helped her to play her part in the movie Bandits (1997). She wrote most of the songs for the Soundtrack of "Bandits". On 3rd December 2002, her first child, a girl named Angelina Sherri Rose, was born. Father of the child is the American musician Tico Zamora, who lives in Berlin with Jasmin.

In 2003, Jasmin will also take part in the tour of German singer Nena (tour is called "Nena & Friends") and she helped Nena to make the English project "Red Nose Day" more popular in Germany.

Behrouz Vossoughi is one of Iran's most legendary actors. He has over 40 years of experience in the motion picture industry, with featured appearances in more than 90 films. In addition to his work in films, television, radio and theater, Behrouz' performances have earned him recognition at several international film festivals. He was one of the first to play in American and European Co-Productions such as in Caravans (1978) in 1978 co-starring with Anthony Quinn, Jennifer O'Neill (I) and Michael Sarrazin. He was also to play in another American movie called The Invincible Six (1970) with Curd Jürgens in 1962. His major films were, of course, Iranian. In Iran, he is still truly a Mega Star and Role model for an entire generation of Iranians in Post Islamic Iran and under the Shah's Pro-American Regime. Co-starring with his future wife, singer and actress Googoosh in a number of films such as Honeymoon (1976) aka the Honeymoon.

He is certainly The Iranian actor who paved the road for the new generation of Iranians working today in Iran and aboard.

Bahman Ghobadi was born in 1969 in Baneh, in the province of Iranian Kurdistan, near the Iran-Iraq border. Shortly after graduating from the National Audiovisual School, he made his first short, immediately acclaimed by the local critics. One of these short films, "Life in Fog" (1999) is even considered as the most famous short ever made in Iran. This success allowed Bahman Ghobadi to make several feature films, the best known being his first, "A Time for Drunken Horses" (2000), the first Kurd film in the history of Iran. This film and all the the others made by Ghobadi were hits in the festival circuit, garnered dozens of awards but were little seen or not seen at all in his native country. His last movie to date, filmed without official permit, rapidly and feverishly, "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (2009) is a remarkable semi-documentary about underground indie music in Tehran.

Bahman Naraghi is known for The Tourist (2010), Snowden (2016) and & Sons.

Farhad Safinia was born in 1975 in Tehran, Iran. He is a writer and producer, known for Apocalypto (2006), The Professor and the Madman (2019) and Boss (2011). He has been married to Laura Regan since 2007.

Bahar Soomekh was born on March 30, 1975 in Tehran, Iran, to a Persian Jewish family. She is the daughter of Manijeh and Hamid Soomekh, who owned a women's high fashion company. She has a sister, Saba Soomekh. The family moved to Los Angeles in 1979, to escape the Iranian revolution. She attended a yeshiva, Sinai Akiba Academy, and Beverly Hills High School, where she played the violin in the school orchestra. She majored in environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Soomekh began working at a corporate job, and took acting classes at night, before quitting her job to pursue a full-time acting career.

Bahar began acting at age 27, guest starring in television shows like Without a Trace (2002), 24 (2001), JAG (1995), among others. She got her big break portraying an Iranian-American woman named Dorri, speaking fluent English and Farsi, in the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Crash (2004). The whole cast won the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. Bahar also appeared in the director's cut version of another Academy Award winning movie, Syriana (2005), playing Yassi. Bahar got some more attention playing Davian's translator in Mission: Impossible III (2006). She had a leading role in the horror film Saw III (2006), playing a victim, Dr. Lynn Denlon. She had also portrayed Margo on the television series Day Break (2006). Recently, Soomekh got one of the lead roles as Hollis on the television series The Oaks (2008), which will come out in the fall of 2008.

Shiva Rose was born in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. An American of Irish and Iranian decent, she was raised in Iran until the age of ten when she and her family were forced to escape to Paris, then to Los Angeles.

She began her stage career at 15 at several theaters in Santa Monica. She attended UCLA and then married actor Dylan McDermott. While devoting her life as a mother to raise a daughter, she continued to act on stage, television and film.

She gained recognition for her starring role in the critically-acclaimed David and Layla which Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter described as "'A bold, politically relevant film against impossible odds." The film got theatrical distribution, followed by Time Warner's VOD and Digital Distribution. It continues to be distributed abroad.

David & Layla garnered Shiva Rose the "Best Breakthrough Actress" Award.

She continues her career in the theater as an actress and writer. She wrote Fragile Life based on the life of the photographer Tina Modotti.

She is active with several charitable organizations including being a spokesperson for Amnesty International Refugee Program.

Shiva Rose and Dylan McDermott divorced in 2009. She continues to write for various magazines (Vogue, Lucky) and online sites (eco-stilletto, Huffington Post). She maintains a life style website devoted to her organic holistic lifestyle called The Local Rose.

Currently (2011), she is the Executive Producer of a feature film 'Relative Insanity', starring Maggie Grace and Helen Hunt.

Shiva Rose lives with her two daughters in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.

Rosie Malek-Yonan is an Assyrian born in Tehran who lives in the U.S. She is an actress, award winning writer, director, producer, published author, documentary filmmaker, a classically trained pianist, composer, and an Assyrian advocate. She is a descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent Assyrian Christian families from the Middle-East, the Malek Family of Jilu, tracing her Assyrian roots back eleven centuries.

Rosie's father, George Malek-Yonan (1924-2014), an Assyrian, was Iran's Champion of Champions with numerous gold medals in track and field and the pentathlon. He became an international attorney and is credited with securing a seat for the Assyrian Christians as a recognized minority in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis). This was a huge milestone for a nation without a country since the fall of the Assyrian Empire. Rosie's mother, Lida Malek-Yonan (1928-2002) also an Assyrian, was a well-known humanitarian and activist who tirelessly worked a lifetime demanding rights for minority Assyrian Christian women in Iran and secured their recognition by establishing the Assyrian Women's Organization, the only Assyrian organization officially recognized as a charter member of the Iranian Women's Association presided over by Queen Farah Pahlavi.

Rosie's grandparents who were survivors of the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918, left Geogtapah during the Great Exodus from Urmia in 1918. After World War One, Dr. Jesse Malek-Yonan, her great uncle, represented the Assyrians of Urmia, Iran, at the Paris Peace Talks in 1919. Before WWII, the Malek-Yonan family returned to Tehran where her parents met and were married.

Her sister, Monica, works very closely with her on most of her projects. The Malek-Yonan sister are award-winning writers whose screenplays have earned more than a hundred awards and nominations at film festivals and screenplay competitions nationally and internationally. The sisters trained in the U.S. in figure skating and were to represent Iran in the 1980 Winter Olympics but decided not to compete after the Iranian Revolution made it virtually impossible. The new Islamic Government required them to denounce Christianity and become Muslim, wear head covering, long skirts, and perform without music.

Rosie began studying classical piano at the age of four and attended the Tehran Conservatory of Music. She won first place in many national piano competitions and was invited by Queen Farah Pahlavi to play at a Command Performance for the Royal Family.

She received her degree in English from the University of Cambridge and continued studying classical piano with Saul Joseph at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and acting with Ray Reinhardt at the American Conservatory Theatre. She graduated from San Francisco State University with two degrees in Music. She won an invitation to study drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and studied acting at the historic Pasadena Playhouse where she performed on the main stage in "The Time of Your Life". Rosie has directed and written numerous plays that have been produced and performed on stage to rave reviews.

She made her television debut on Dynasty (1981) in 1982 followed by a national commercial for AT&T where she spoke in Assyrian (related to Aramaic), a language that, years later, director Mel Gibson would use in The Passion of the Christ (2004). Since the early 1980s, she has worked on notable television shows, in films and onstage, opposite many of Hollywood's leading actors. She played Nuru Il-Ebrahim, opposite Reese Witherspoon, in New Line Cinema's Rendition (2007), directed by Academy Award-winning director Gavin Hood.

Rosie Malek-Yonan is an outspoken advocate of issues concerning her Assyrian nation, in particular bringing attention to the 1914-1918 Assyrian Genocide as well as the plight of modern-day Assyrians in the Middle-East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and its Coalition Forces. She is frequently interviewed on television and radio programs worldwide including Australia's ABC National Radio and publications such as the New York Times, giving her assessment of the current situation of the Assyrians in the Middle-East as well as discussing the topic of the Assyrian Genocide. As a public speaker, she has been invited to lecture on the topic of the Assyrian Genocide. She has lectured at University of California (Berkeley and Merced campuses) and at Woodbury University, among other schools. In 2008, she addressed the topic of genocide, world peace and the 1914-1918 Assyrian Genocide in statements invited to be presented at the House of Lords on 12 March and on 24 April at the UK House of Commons.

She is the author of "Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field", an historical and literary epic novel, based on real events and true family chronicles set to the backdrop of the 1914-1918 Assyrian Genocide, in which 750,000 Assyrians were massacred by the Ottoman Turks, Kurds, and Persians in Ottoman Turkey and in the Assyrian inhabited region of Urmia in northwestern Iran.

In 2006, Washington D.C.-based Zinda Magazine, selected "Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field" as The Assyrian Event of the Year 2005 and MAKE, a Chicago Literary Magazine featured it in their 4th edition. "Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field" was added to the State University of New York (SUNY) course curriculum. This is the first time that the Assyrian Genocide was recognized and studied at an institution of higher learning.

When Rosie Malek-Yonan's The Crimson Field was brought to the attention of Congress, on June 30, 2006, Rosie was invited to testify on Capitol Hill before a Congressional Committee of the 109th Congress on religious freedom regarding the genocide, massacres and persecution of Assyrians in Iraq by Kurds and Islamists. During her 33-minute testimony, she compared the events of 1914-1918, as depicted in The Crimson Field, to the current plight of the indigenous Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Her passionate testimony and plea to the United States government, ultimately prompted Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) to travel to war-torn Iraq to witness matters for himself. While in Iraq, after meeting with local Assyrians, he turned in Malek-Yonan's report to U.S. Officials in Iraq. One year later, a Congressional Appropriations Subcommittee unanimously voted on and sent $10 million to aid the Assyrians in Iraq.

Monica Malek-Yonan's documentary film, My Assyrian Nation on the Edge, was based on Rosie's Congressional Testimony. It was released September 2006. On 7 August 2008, the documentary film premiered at the Australian Parliament of New South Wales in Sydney.

Various media sources including The Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the U.K. Iraqi Study have quoted and used Rosie Malek-Yonan's Congressional Testimony and her various published articles, speeches and interviews regarding the state of affairs in Iraq concerning its Assyrian indigenous people as well as the Assyrian refugees in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Her Congressional Testimony and her book, The Crimson Field, have been referenced in numerous academic papers and books.

Rosie Malek-Yonan is a contributing writer to "Seyfo: Genocide, Denial and the Right of Recognition" (ISBN 91-972351-2-1), a book which is a compilation of articles and speeches presented at conferences held in the European Parliament and published in the Netherlands.

At the 73rd Annual Assyrian Convention in Chicago, the Board of Advisers of the Assyrian American National Federation, Inc. named and awarded Rosie Malek-Yonan 2006 Woman of the Year.

For her numerous contributions as an actress, artist, director, author, and activist, IAPAC awarded Rosie Malek-Yonan the 2008 Excellence in Arts and Entertainment Award.

At the Assyrian Universal Alliance 26th World Conference in Sydney, Australia, Rosie Malek-Yonan was awarded and named the 2009 Assyrian Woman of the Year in recognition of her substantial contribution to advance the Assyrian national cause by promoting international recognition of the Assyrian Genocide, her extensive efforts in conveying the needs of the Assyrians to the United States government, and achievements in providing individual service to the Assyrian community worldwide.

For International Woman's Day, the Netherland based Assyrie Magazinë gave her the recognition of Assyrian Power-Woman.

Robert Kennedy Center Human Rights - Women's History Month Spotlight, Kerry Kennedy wrote: "Rosie Malek-Yonan fearlessly shines light on the challenges of Assyrians in Iraq...Rosie strives for peaceful conflict resolution in the face of violence."

She has spoken at the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance to address the escalating crisis and the deadly attacks on the Assyrians in Iraq.

Rosie was an ambassador for the Swedish-based humanitarian organization, Assyrians Without Borders. She is a founding member of the Assyrian Cultural and Arts Society. For several years beginning in 2005 scholarships were given to students at Woodbury University's Design School through an annual Assyrian Design Competition.

David Norian was born on 16 January 1974 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and actor, known for Seeing a Sleeping Woman (2006).

Ramin Bahrani was born on 20 March 1975 in North Carolina, USA. He is a producer and director, known for 99 Homes (2014), The White Tiger (2021) and Fahrenheit 451 (2018).

Amir Naderi is one of the most influential figures of 20th century Persian cinema. He developed his knowledge of cinema by watching films at the theater where he worked as a boy, reading film criticism, and making relationships with leading film critics. He began his career with still photography for some notable Iranian features. In the 1970s, Mr. Naderi turned to directing, and made some of the most important features of the New Iranian Cinema. In 1971, his directorial debut, GOODBYE, FRIEND, was released in Iran. Amir Naderi first came into the international spotlight with films that are now known as cinema classics, THE RUNNER (1985), and WATER, WIND, DUST (1989). THE RUNNER is considered by many critics to be one of the most influential films of the past quarter century. After expatriating to New York in the early '90s, Amir Naderi continued to produce new work. He was named a Rockefeller Film and Video Fellow in 1997, and has served as an artist in residence and instructor at Columbia University, the University of Las Vegas, and New York's School of Visual Arts. His US films have premiered at the Film Society of Lincoln Center/ MoMA's New Directors/ New Films series, the Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and Sundance Film Festivals. His film SOUND BARRIER (2005) had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the prestigious Roberto Rossellini Prize at the Rome Film Festival. His last feature film VEGAS: BASED ON A TRUE STORY (2008) was in competition at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the CinemAvvenire Best Film in Competition Prize and the SIGNIS Award. The film was also shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the Pusan International Film Festival and CineVegas in Las Vegas. His last three films MARATHON, SOUND BARRIER, and VEGAS were all shown at the FILMeX Film Festival in Tokyo.

Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer known for composing the hit HBO series Game of Thrones and the Marvel films Blade: Trinity, Iron Man and Eternals. He also composed Clash of the Titans, A Wrinkle in Time, Pacific Rim, Westworld, Gears of War 4 and 5, Medal of Honor, Open Season 1 and 2, Jack Ryan and Warcraft. He won two Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones.