Category: Performing
Country: Iran

About

Shohreh Aghdasloo is an Iranian actress who was born in Tehran in 1952 to an intellectual family. From an early age she was drawn to the theatre and by her early twenties was acting with various avant-garde performance groups such as the Drama Workshop of Tehran. Shohreh was soon noticed and cast by two prominent directors of the Iranian New Wave, Abbas Kiarostami and Ali Hatami, and played leading roles in their 1977 films Gozaresh and Sutedelan.

By the late 1970s, Shohreh’s work as an actress was either censored or banned by Ayatollah Khomeini’s strict new laws. Looking to escape post-Revolution Iran, Shohreh left her husband and her career to go to London. While there, a friend presented her with an opportunity to act in Rainbow, a play about the Revolution and the turmoil that ensued. The play was a success and brought Shohreh to the United States, where she married her second husband and settled in Los Angeles. 

Though initially Shohreh found it difficult to find non-stereotypical roles for Middle Eastern women in Hollywood, she eventually found herself starring in Vadim Perelman’s adaption of the bestseller The House of Sand and Fog. In the film she played Nadi, a strong but submissive Iranian American wife, and was cast opposite Ben Kingsley. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination. She went on to have a recurring role on the popular television series 24 and starred in a number of films including The Exorcism of Emily Rose, American Dreamz, X-Men: The Last Stand, and The Lake House.¹

Shohreh also starred in two short films in a trilogy by fellow Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat entitled Possessed and Pulse.² In 2008, Shohreh starred in Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M, a film about an innocent woman, Soraya, who has been condemned by her husband and a village mob for adultery. Shohreh played Soraya’s aunt, who acts to defend her from her ill fate. The Stoning of Soraya M was the runner up to Slumdog Millionaire at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival for the Audience Choice award.³
 

[1] “Shohreh Aghdashloo,” NY Times Movies and TV.

[2] “Shohreh Aghdashloo,” Pars Times.

[3] “Movie Review: The Stoning of Soraya M,” NY Times.