Biography

Golshifteh Farahani

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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.
- IMDb mini biography by: daftar

After playing in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008), she was banned from leaving her home country Iran in February 2008 on her way to London to make a screen test for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). The role she was set to audition for eventually went to English actress Gemma Arterton. This was only reported six months later when she actually could leave the country. She now lives in Paris, France.
Fluent in English, French, and Farsi. Some knowledge of Arabic and Kurdish.
First Iranian star after the 1979 revolution to play in a major Hollywood production: Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.
Her underground rock band "Kooch" got the first prize at the 2nd Tehran Avenue Underground Rock Festival in 2003. Rock music and women singing are banned in Iran.
The name "Golshifteh" was not accepted by the authorities as a proper name, so the name "Rahavard" was chosen as an "official" first name for her.

I think there is a problem in France that anyone who is not European, you want to know where they come from and why do they come from somewhere or why they speak English or why they are human. That's the big barrier for all of us that are coming from some far, far away countries. But at the end of the day, we are all artists.
I have scars from every film I have made. There is nothing to protect actors. They treat you worse than a dog. You work like a slave, and you know, I like it. That is the way it should be. Every film should be like your last.
Exile is my power.
The Iran I'm dreaming of maybe doesn't exist anymore.
I had to tell people I was not born with a scarf because I came out of Iran. People think you came out of your mother with a scarf; they can't imagine that the scarf is not stuck to your head.

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