Most beautiful Middle Eastern women
The loveliest women of Arabic and also Persian descent.
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Nasim Pedrad (born November 18, 1981) is an American actress and comedian best known for her five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live (1975) from 2009 to 2014. She has since gone on to co-star in sitcoms such as Mulaney (2014), Scream Queens (2015), People of Earth (2016), and New Girl (2011).
Pedrad was born in Tehran, Iran, to a Muslim family. Her parents are Arasteh Amani and Parviz Pedrad. Pedrad's family emigrated to the United States in 1984 when she was three years old. Her younger sister is comedy writer Nina Pedrad. Both sisters are fluent in Persian. The sisters were raised in Irvine, California, and graduated from University High School. Nasim graduated from UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television in 2003. She was a member of the UCLA Spring Sing Company.
Pedrad was a performer with the Sunday Company at The Groundlings. She frequently performed her one-woman show Me, Myself & Iran at the Los Angeles divisions of ImprovOlympic and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The show was selected for the 2007 HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. She received an LA Weekly Best Comedic Performance of the Year Award as the lead in the comedic spoof After School Special.
Pedrad made her first television appearance on an episode of Gilmore Girls (2000). In 2007, she made a guest appearance on The Winner (2007). She had a recurring role on ER (1994) as Nurse Suri. In 2009, she had a guest appearance on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005).
Pedrad joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2009 as part of the 35th (2009-2010) season. Pedrad is one of a handful of cast members born outside North America (joining Italian-born Tony Rosato, New Zealand-born Pamela Stephenson, English-born Morwenna Banks, and Chilean-born Horatio Sanz). Pedrad became a repertory player in the 2011-12 season after two years of being a featured player. Pedrad left SNL in 2014 to work on Mulaney.
In 2011, she was a recurring voice on the Fox animated series Allen Gregory (2011). She appeared with a small role in the 2011 film No Strings Attached (2011). In 2012, she had a supporting voice role in the animated feature film The Lorax (2012) and a small appearance in The Dictator (2012). In 2013, Pedrad had another supporting voice role in Despicable Me 2 (2013). In the autumn of 2014, she left Saturday Night Live to star in a new Fox sitcom, Mulaney. On October 18, 2014, Fox shut down production of the series by reducing the 16-episode order by three episodes. Filming for the thirteenth episode had just been completed prior to the order reduction, and the fourteenth episode was about to enter production.
Beginning in 2015, Pedrad has a recurring guest role as LAPD officer Aly Nelson on the Fox sitcom New Girl. She portrayed Gigi Caldwell in season one of Fox horror-comedy Scream Queens.
In 2016, she appeared in a commercial for Old Navy alongside comedian Kumail Nanjiani and other SNL cast members Cecily Strong and Jay Pharoah.
In 2017, she joined the cast of season two of the TBS comedy series People of Earth. Later that same year, she also made guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000) and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013).- Actress
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Zuleikha Robinson was born in London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Hidalgo (2004), The Merchant of Venice (2004) and Homeland (2011). She was previously married to Sean Doyle.- Actress
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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 Sward as best supporting actress in a feature film, the New York and Los Angeles film critics award and others.- Actress
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Sarah Shahi was born Aahoo Jahansouzshahi in Euless, Texas, to an Iranian father and Spanish-Iranian mother. She is a former NFL cheerleader and a descendant of a 19th-century Persian Shah. She attended Trinity High School and Southern Methodist University, studied opera and majored in English. As a teenager, she won several beauty contests and took first place in the Miss Fort Worth USA pageant in 1997. She joined the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and was part of the 1999-2000 squad. She also appeared on the cover of their 2000 calendar.
While working as an extra on the set of Dr. T & the Women (2000), she met director Robert Altman, who encouraged her to move to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actress. Shahi was the first ghost in Supernatural (2005), the CW paranormal drama series. She had recurring roles in several TV series, such as Alias (2001), in which she played "Jenny"; and Dawson's Creek (1998), where she was "Sadia Shaw". She became a fan favorite in her role as the Mexican-American DJ "Carmen de la Pica Morales" in the Showtime series, The L Word (2004), which she joined in its second season. Sarah did not renew her contract with the show for a fourth season and, consequently, her character was written out.
However, she is best-known for her main role as "Sameen Shaw" on the CBS show Person of Interest (2011) playing a CIA agent turned-vigilante with a heart of gold.
She also appeared on HBO's The Sopranos (1999), in the episode Kennedy and Heidi (2007) as "Sonya Aragon", a stripper and a college student who spends a weekend with Tony after a death in his family. Although uncredited by most sources, Sarah also appeared in the Jackie Chan film, Rush Hour 3 (2007), as one of the girls being handcuffed along with Mia Tyler for a traffic offense by Chris Tucker early in the film. She also starred with Damian Lewis in the NBC show, Life (2007).
Sarah speaks English, Farsi, and some Spanish, and has a brown belt in karate.- Make-Up Department
Denise Bidot was born on 13 June 1986 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is known for Gothic Vampires from Hell (2007), Straight/Curve: Redefining Body Image (2017) and A Perfect 14 (2018).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sofia Boutella is an Algerian actress, dancer and model. She was born in the Bab El Oued district of Algiers in Algeria, the daughter of composer and jazz musician Safy Boutella, and an architect mother. She started classical dance education when she was five years old. In 1992, at age 10, she left Algeria with her family and moved to France, where she started rhythmic gymnastics, joining the French national team at age 18. Sofia started with hip hop and street dance, and was part of a group called the Vagabond Crew. She also participated in a group called Chienne de Vie and Aphrodites. She has been rehearsing since age 17 with choreographer Blanca Li, and danced in several film and television appearances, as well as commercials and concert tours.
In 2007, her breakthrough arrived when she was picked for the Jamie King choreography for Nike as a role model of femininity and hip-hop. This was a major boost to her career and led to more work alongside stars like Madonna in her Confessions Tour, and Rihanna. Sofia successfully auditioned for Michael Jackson's This Is It Tour, but could not attend due to the extension of Madonna's tour, whose dates coincided with Jackson's residency. In February 2011, she was the main character in Michael's last music video Michael Jackson: Hollywood Tonight (2011).
Sofia played the lead character Eva in the drama film StreetDance 2 (2012), she starred as the assassin Gazelle in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), an alien warrior named Jaylah in Star Trek Beyond (2016), the main antagonist, Princess Ahmanet, in Universal's Dark Universe film The Mummy (2017), and an undercover French agent in Atomic Blonde (2017) alongside Charlize Theron, and many other great movies since then.- Actress
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Alia Shawkat was born in Riverside, California, to Dina Burke and actor Tony Shawkat. Her maternal grandfather, Paul Burke, was also an actor. Her father is from Baghdad, Iraq, and her mother has Irish, Italian, and Norwegian ancestry. Success arrived early for Alia. Her career began at the young age of 11 when she landed a role on the ABC Family series State of Grace (2001). She later starred as "Maeby Funke" on Fox's Emmy-award winning Arrested Development (2003) where she portrayed a rebellious and mischievous member of a dysfunctional Orange County family trying to adjust to their loss of wealth.
Alia was introduced to show business by appearing in a Calvin Klein catalog, which immediately attracted the attention of commercial and theatrical agents in Hollywood. She soon landed a role opposite George Clooney in Three Kings (1999). This was followed by a supporting lead in the Ron Perlman' movie The Trial of Old Drum (2000).
But it was State of Grace (2001) that catapulted her into the forefront of young actresses. She has also had guest-starring roles on JAG (1995), Without a Trace (2002), Boomtown (2002) and Presidio Med (2002) and she recently starred opposite Martin Lawrence in Rebound (2005).
At 16 years old, when she was not filming, Alia attended a private school near her home in Rancho Mirage where she was able to continue her studies in English, Physics, Math, Geography and Drama. Her ambition is eventually to attend Yale University studying International Relations.
In her free time, Alia enjoys horseback riding, ice-skating and dancing. She is an accomplished pianist and speaks several languages. She splits her time between her home and Rancho Mirage and Los Angeles where she resides with her parents and her two brothers.- Actress
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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.- Marjan Neshat was born on 10 October 1975 in Tehran, Iran. She is an actress, known for RoboCop (2014), Alfie (2004) and The Book of Henry (2017).
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Catherine was born in London, but she moved to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two. Her mother still acts as her personal assistant. As a girl, she acted in various TV advertisements. She went to UCLA to study biology/ pre-medicine, but she dropped out to become a model in Japan. She moved back into acting with a Mexican commercial for American Express, and then she followed that up by being Isabella Rossellini's nude body double in Death Becomes Her (1992), when she also met her future husband, Adam Beason, who was the director's Robert Zemeckis's assistant. As of 2018, the two reside near Los Angeles with their daughter Gemma Beason and son Ronan Beason.- Queen Rania was born on 31 August 1970 in Kuwait City, Kuwait. She is an actress, known for Djalil Palermo: Remontada (2021), Cité de la Réussite (1989) and How'd That Get Here? (2008). She has been married to Abdullah II King Of Jordan since 10 June 1993. They have four children.
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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.- Actress
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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.- Actress
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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.- Actress
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Necar Zadegan is a versatile actress known for a career on stage and screen. She made her Broadway debut when she originated the role of the Leper in Rajiv Joseph's Pulitzer Prize nominated and multi Tony award accoladed play " The Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" opposite Robin Williams. She stars as Special Agent Hannah Khoury in the CBS global franchise series, "NCIS: New Orleans" and has joined the cast of the much anticipated and newest installation of the Star Trek franchise, "Picard".
Ms. Zadegan first garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of First Lady turned president Dalia Hassan on Fox's hit series "24", and most recently for her hilarious leading role in the absurdist docu-spoof film for IFC on Netflix called "Documentary: Now" written by Seth Meyers and alongside an all-star cast. The show has been nominated for multiple Emmys and has begun streaming in the UK. For HBO in the drama "Here and Now" from Oscar winning screenwriter, creator Alan Ball, she takes the lead in the delicate portrayal of Layla Shokrani.
In the much beloved Bravo comedy streaming on Netflix, "Girlfriends Guide to Divorce", Ms. Zadegan plays the character written for her by show creator Marti Noxon, of fashionable, high powered attorney and fan favorite, Delia Banai. The show recently began streaming its fifth and final season. The year also saw Ms. Zadegan join the cast of the ABC hit "The Good Doctor". Other series regular roles include her portrayal of Dr. Gina Bandari on "Emily Owens MD" and in the lead opposite Greg Kinnear in the FOX comedy "Rake".
Some highlights from her many other credits include roles for Steven Spielberg company produced series "Extant", opposite Sean Bean in spy series "Legends" and a very memorable turn as the Queen of Iran in Showtime's critical success "Masters of Sex" opposite Michael Sheen, with whom she also starred opposite in the Columbia Tri Star film, psychological thriller "Unthinkable" alongside Samuel L. Jackson. She appeared with Adam Sandler in Judd Apatow's "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" and played the title role in "Elena Undone" which enjoyed success at independent festivals worldwide.
Ms. Zadegan has worked at some of the world's most prestigious theaters including The Mark Taper Forum, the Royal Dramatic Theater of Stockholm, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and many more, and toured internationally in the Persian language production of "Satellite with Love".
Necar Zadegan was born in Heidelberg, Germany and raised in Northern California. She studied theater and dance on a performance scholarship at the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated with honors and a BA degree in English Literature. She also studied at the Sorbonne University in Paris. She speaks Persian, French and German and has learned Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew while working in those languages. She works with USAID in supporting opportunities for education across the globe and is an ambassador for BuildOn.org and travels with them around the world building schools for children.- Producer
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TV star, entrepreneur, fashion designer, and author (New York Times best-seller - "Kardashian Konfidential"), Kim Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, to Kris Jenner (née Kristen Mary Houghton) and attorney Robert Kardashian. Her father was of Armenian descent and her mother is of mostly English and Scots-Irish ancestry. Kim first burst onto the scene in 2007, after the premiere of her hit E! Entertainment reality series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007). The show follows the exploits of the Kardashian/Jenner family, which includes her stepfather Caitlyn Jenner, her mother, Kim, her siblings Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, and younger half-sisters Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner. The show was the highest-rated program on the E! Network. She also stars alongside her sister Kourtney in Kourtney & Kim Take New York (2011), which premiered its second season in November of this year. Most recently, Kardashian shared her wedding with the world in a two-part special, Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 1 (2011) and Kim's Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event - Part 2 (2011). The special ranks as E!'s most-watched event, ever, bringing in 10.5 million viewers. In addition to starring in her own reality shows for E!, she has appeared as an actress in a number of other projects, including the feature, Disaster Movie (2008) (Lionsgate), CW's hit show, 90210 (2008) and TV's How I Met Your Mother (2005) and Brothers (2009), among others. In 2010, she produced The Spin Crowd (2010), her first TV show for E!, which premiered to 2.46 million households. Additionally, in September 2008, Kardashian competed on the ABC hit series, Dancing with the Stars (2005), where she was paired with defending Champion Mark Ballas.
In recent years, Kardashian has become a highly-sought-after name and face for a number of high profile brands. She is the face of "Sketchers Shape-ups", the sneaker designed to get you fit while you walk, work, shop, and more. She was featured in a Sketchers commercial during Super Bowl XLV. Also, she (along with her sisters), has her own line of "Nicole by OPI" nail polish, "Kardashian Kolors", which will be available on holiday 2011. She has created a line of contemporary jewelry line, "Belle Noel", with famed jewelry designer Pascal Mouawad. Kardashian also serves as the official spokesperson for "Midori Melon Liqueur" and its new "Stand-Out" marketing campaign.
Employing her entrepreneurial business skills, Kim began her fashion career as a stylist and became an immediate sought-after wardrobe stylist for infomercials, television shows, music videos and photo shoots. But it was her organizational, orderly arrangement and construction of high-fashion closets that led her into a unique line of work, overhauling and designing closets for celebrities.
In 2006, together with her sisters Kourtney and Khloe, Kardashian opened the designer clothing store, "Dash", in Calabasas, California; a must-shop-at store for those with discriminating, yet fashionable taste. Because of high consumer demands, other stores in Miami and New York opened in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2010, Kim co-designed a fashion line with her sisters, Kourtney and Khloe, in conjunction with the Bebe fashion brand. This collaboration led to a partnership between the three sisters and Bruno Schiavi on a complete brand launch, "Kardashian Kollection", encompassing apparel, shoes, lingerie, home, jewelry and accessories. "Kardashian Kollection" is sold at over 500 Sears, nationwide. Sears has created a store within a store concept, specifically for "Kardashian Kollection". It is also sold in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany.
In 2009, Kim launched her own perfume, "Kim Kardashian", which is available worldwide. Her second perfume, "Kim Kardashian Gold", was launched in 2010. A limited edition scent, "Kim Kardashian Gold", launched in August 2011. Her online shoe company, "ShoeDazzle.com", was launched in March 2009 and provides affordable, fashionable shoes to its members.
Kim has graced the covers of numerous publications around the world, including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Allure, Harper's Bazaar, Prestige (Hong Kong), and Self, among others. Additionally, she has appeared, as a guest, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992), Late Show with David Letterman (1993), Larry King Live (1985), among others.
Kardashian's official website gets 6 million page views a month, making it the fastest growing celebrity blog on the web. She also has over 10 million followers on Twitter.
When not working, Kim gives her time to charitable causes. She is a Dream Foundation ambassador which grants last wishes to terminally ill adults and does regular sales on Ebay to generate donations for the charity. She enjoys spending time with children at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is passionate about cancer foundations since her father, the late Robert Kardashian, passed away from esophageal cancer. Kardashian recently gave a heart-felt speech about her father at Gabrielle's Angel Foundations' Angel Ball which supports cancer research.- Actress
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Award-winning actress, Leila Hatami, was born on October 1, 1972 in Tehran, Iran, to legendary Iranian Director, Ali Hatami, and actress mother, Zari Khoshkam (Zahra Hatami). During her childhood, she appeared in several of her father's films including the historical TV series, Nightingales (1988), and biopic Kamalolmolk (1984), as well as a role as Leila, the blind Turkish princess in the film The Love-stricken (1992). After completing high school, she moved to Lausanne, Switzerland and started her studies in Electronic Engineering. However, after two years she changed her major to French Literature. She completed her studies in a couple of years and moved back to Iran.
After a pause in her film career of a few years which included her studies in Switzerland, she made her professional entry into cinema with Dariush Mehrjui's film Leila (1997) as the title character. Her performance in the film received rave reviews from critics and audiences worldwide. She also received the Diploma of Honor for Best Actress from the 15th Fajr Film Festival. Later, she married her co-star Ali Mosaffa in 1999. They now have two children: a son named Mani (born February 2007) and a daughter named Asal (born October 2008).
To date, Hatami has worked with some of the most celebrated Iranian directors. Moreover, her performance in The Deserted Station (2002) won the Best Actress award from the 26th Montreal World Film Festival. She also appeared in her husband's directorial debut film, Portrait of a Lady Far Away (2005). In 2011, she won the prestigious Silver Berlin Bear award at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival for the Best Actress in a Leading Role in Asghar Farhadi's internationally acclaimed film, A Separation (2011).- Actress
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Nazanin Boniadi's film and television credits are a testament to her versatility, spanning a breadth of genres including drama, comedy, sci-fi, fantasy and action. She recently starred as Bronwyn in the first season of Amazon's global hit series adaptation The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022), she also starred alongside J.K. Simmons in the critically acclaimed Starz series Counterpart (2017), created and produced by Justin Marks. She was the female lead of the Thunder Road / Bleecker Street feature Hotel Mumbai (2018) from director Anthony Maras, in which she starred opposite Dev Patel and was nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Award (AACTA), as well as had a supporting role in the Jay Roach and Charles Randolph's Roger Ailes film BOMBSHELL for Lionsgate and BRON opposite Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie. She also portrayed Ester in the 2016 major motion picture Ben-Hur (2016), and had a supporting role in Jon Favreau's Iron Man (2008).
Among her many television credits, Boniadi earned an outstanding drama ensemble SAG nomination for her work on Showtime's hit series Homeland (2011) in which she played CIA analyst Fara Sherazi. She portrayed Nora, a relatively longstanding love interest to Neil Patrick Harris's Barney Stinson, in seasons six and seven of How I Met Your Mother (2005). She also appeared as the notorious Adnan Salif in season three of Shonda Rhimes' hit political drama Scandal (2012).
Born in Tehran in the direct aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, Boniadi's parents relocated to London, England, shortly thereafter, where she was raised with an emphasis on education. While she was involved in theatre early in life, Boniadi later decided she wanted to become a physician. She moved to the United States at the age of 19 to attend the University of California, Irvine, where she received her Bachelor's Degree, with Honors (Dean's Academic Achievement and Service Award) in Biological Sciences, and won the "Chang Pin Chun" Undergraduate Research Award for her work in heart-transplant rejection and cancer research.
Switching gears to pursue her first love, Boniadi then decided to study acting, which included training in Contemporary Drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London under the supervision of dramaturge Lloyd Trott.
Boniadi is fluent in both English and Persian. She is also a longtime, renowned human rights activist, with a focus on her homeland Iran. Among her numerous recognitions she is the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize laureate. She has served as an ambassador for Amnesty International UK since 2020, and has been a member of the board of directors of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran since 2023. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.- Actress
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Kathy Najimy was born and raised in San Diego, California. She is the daughter of Samia (Massery) and Fred Najimy, a postal worker, both of Lebanese ancestry. Kathy attended Crawford High School, and began her film career in the early 1990s, with several minor roles. Kathy got her breakthrough screen role as "Sister Mary Patrick" in Sister Act (1992). She reprised this role in 1993 in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She is most notably known as the voice of "Peggy Hill" on King of the Hill (1997).
Kathy lives in Los Angeles with her husband, actor/singer Dan Finnerty (the Dan Band) and their daughter, Samia Najimy Finnerty.- Actress
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- Asa Soltan Rahmati was born on 1 September 1976 in Ahwaz, Iran.
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Yasmine Aker is an actress, singer and songwriter based out of Los Angeles, California. She was born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Iranian parents and later moved to Canada. She began performing at an early age, starring in school plays and community events. She sang soprano with the Voices of Bahá Choir for a performance at Carnegie Hall, New York, during the Conference of the Arts 2002. She has a passion for public service and was awarded the TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Community Leadership. Yasmine studied psychology at York University and the University of Western Ontario in London. After competing in the Miss World franchise as the titleholder, Miss London 2006, and Miss World Canada Photogenic 2006, she turned her sights back to her childhood dream of pursuing a career in film and television. She has starred in various motion pictures and television shows in Canada and the United States. Yasmine embarked on a solo singing career in 2009 with the Grammy nominated Canadian production team KUYA, who have worked with international stars such as Alessia Cara, Nelly Furtado, Akon, and Genuwine. She has since released three albums, her latest album titled "Unvarnished". Her musical sound combines elements from her Middle Eastern roots, pop, neo-soul and electronica. Yasmine moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to continue her work in film and television.- Actress
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Nikka Far is known for Argo (2012) and Paranoid Activity (2011).- Actress
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Kathreen Khavari was born in Oakland, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Avengers Assemble (2012), Big Little Lies (2017) and Insecure (2016).- Actress
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Miss SAYE YABANDEH is an Iranian-born Hollywood actress focused on using her platform to bring awareness to global issues and to give back to refugees and underserved children and families around the world.
Miss Sayé Yabandeh, a humanitarian and award-winning actress of remarkable scope, has joined Virgin Galactic's NEXTGEN astronaut program. As a Goodwill Ambassador for the ENGin program, she dedicates her time to connecting English-speaking volunteers with Ukraine's young generation during their time of need. As a Global Ambassador for the Global Citizen Foundation and her 501(c)3 non-profit organization Sayé org, she champions education, community building, and sustainable development for underprivileged children worldwide. Through her organization, she extends her philanthropic reach to empower impoverished families globally, fostering self-sufficiency rather than dependency. Sir Richard Branson has crowned her a "Woman of the World" as she embodies the essence of a true Global Citizen, transcending borders and embracing the human race with compassion. With a passion for adventure and athleticism rivaling her dedication to helping others, Miss Yabandeh excels as an avid polo player, who has participated in several world snow polo championships and many exhibition, charity-oriented polo matches worldwide, swimmer, yoga enthusiast, and has trained with Navy SEAL Team Six in support of the Department of Defense. Her impressive filmography and nominations for Best LGBT Project and Best Female Filmmaker attest to her artistic prowess. As she embarks on this extraordinary journey, Miss Yabandeh embodies the spirit of the NEXTGEN astronaut, inspiring future generations to boldly explore the unknown.- Actress
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Shiva Negar is a Canadian Actress, Model, and Producer, who rose to prominence starring as Annika Ogden in CBS Films/Lionsgate Blockbuster Movie "American Assassin" and made the short list of Variety Magazine's "10 Canadians to watch".
Shiva can be seen on numerous Films and Network Television shows. Some of her latest credits include "The Cleaning Lady" on FOX and the CBS Military Drama "Seal Team".
Coming from a diverse background, born in Iran, raised in Turkey and Canada, Shiva began her career in music. She was a child performer in piano and guitar recitals and singing competitions, followed by theater and live performances throughout her adolescence. Performing Arts was always Shiva's passion and she had to overcome many obstacles and cultural traditions in order to follow her dreams and pursue her acting career. She also managed to graduate from York University with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Postgraduate degree in Events Management & Marketing.
Dedicated to using her work in performing arts as a medium to tell impactful stories, to inspire, support and empower women all over the world, Shiva hopes to spread more awareness about pressing issues surrounding modern culture and society.
Shiva Negar is one of the faces of the EDA (Ethnically Diverse Artists). She is a contributor and a child sponsor for the non-profit organization Mother Miracle, educating and feeding the impoverished children. She's also a Humanitarian and a Women's rights advocate.- Actress
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Carolena Sabah was born on 15 August 1974 in Tehran, Iran. She is an actress and producer, known for Alpha Males Experiment (2009), Don't Gag Me (2007) and The Experimental Witch (2009).- Tala Ashe stars as Zari Adrianna Tomaz in The CW series "DC's Legends of Tomorrow." Ashe is an Iranian-American actress who speaks fluent Farsi and received a BFA in Acting from Boston University, with training from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and UCB theater. She was recently seen in the off-Broadway production of "The Profane" at Playwrights Horizons, a New York Times Critic's Pick exploring what it means to be Muslim in America. Her additional theatre credits include "Troilus and Cressida" at The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park, "Head Over Heels" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the off-Broadway productions of "The Who & The What" at Lincoln Center Theatre and "Urge for Going" at The Public Theater. Ashe's television credits include a recurring role on "American Odyssey," opposite Anna Friel and Peter Facinelli, and an arc on "Smash," opposite Debra Messing, as well as guest spots on "30 Rock," "Law & Order" and "Covert Affairs."
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Tandees' first film was destroyed when the building that housed her film school was hit by bombs in the Iran/Iraq war. She was then 16 years old. After graduating from high school, Tandees and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada, where she continued her studies in media, television and later on film.
After working in various capacities in television for over 5 years, Tandees returned to school. She graduated top of her class from the Vancouver Film School, and after a short period of working on various projects, registered her own company 'Fables Productions Inc.', developing various scripts and experimental projects. In 1997, Tandees and her partner registered another company 'Unavailable Pictures Ltd.' In 2000, Fables Productions and Unavailables were combined to create Filmatica Enterprises Inc., with Tandees as the sole owner of it.
Between the three companies, Tandees has created, written and produced over a dozen short and long format projects, mostly documentaries and experimentals. In 2002, Tandees created Impromptu, an unscripted comedy programming. The pilot of Impromptu, entitled The Audition, went on to win 3 Leo Award's nominations.
Since 2004, Tandees has joined forces with Sean Thomas from ChefThomas Productions, and together they are embarking on producing a series of feature length projects in various genres.
In her spare time, Tandees also writes and publishes articles.- Atossa Leoni was born in October 1977 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress, known for The Kite Runner (2007), Eyes (2005) and The Florist (2004).
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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.- Director
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Samira Makhmalbaf Filmmaker
Born on February 15,1980 in Tehran. At the age of eight, she played in "The Cyclist" directed by her father, Mohsen Makhmalbaf the celebrated Iranian filmmaker.
At the age of 17, she directed her first feature titled "The Apple" and She went on to become the youngest director in the world participating in the official section of the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. She was praised on different occasions by the legendary Jean-Luc Godard for her film. The Apple was invited to more than 100 international film festivals in a period of two years, while going to the screen in more than 30 countries.
In 1999, Samira made her second feature film titled "Blackboards" in Kurdistan of Iran, and for the second time was selected by the Cannes Film Festival to compete in the official section in 2000. She was granted the Special Jury Award. The Blackboards received many international awards including the "Federico Fellini Honor Award" from UNESCO and "Francois Truffaut Award" from Italy. The film was widely released across the world and more than two hundred thousand people watched the film in France alone.
Samira alongside other prominent director like Ken Loach, Shohei Imamura, Youssef Chahine, Sean Penn.... made one of the eleven episodes of the film "September 11". The film was premiered at Venice International Film Festival in 2002.
The third feature by Samira Makhmalbaf titled "At Five in the Afternoon", the first feature film shot in Afghanistan post Taliban. The film was selected for the competition section of Cannes Film Festival in 2003, receiving the Jury's Special Award for the second time. In 2004, she was selected as one of forty best directors of the world by Guardian newspaper.
Samira Makhmalbaf shot her fourth feature film in Afghanistan titled Two-Legged Horse in 2007, receiving the Grand Jury Awardof San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
Samira Makhmalbaf has also participated as jury member in reputable film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Moscow, Montreal...- Actress
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Dorianne Pahlavan is known for Argo (2012) and Sunday (2013).- Rome Shadanloo was born In Tehran, Iran and grew up in Los Angeles, California.
She has appeared on several notable shows and the independent instant classic "A Girl Walks Home At Night". In 2017 she moved to Boston to finish her Holistic Psychology Degree. Rome is currently in Los Angeles and specializing in treating PTSD. (2020) - Actress
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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.- Actress
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Samira was born in Los Angeles, California. She began to participate in beauty pageant when she was one year old. At age 6, she appeared in the show "Kids Say The Darndest Things" which began her acting career. She was cast in the film House of Sand and Fog in 2003 and in the Lifetime series, State of Mind, as re-occurring guest star Jhasmine Khalid in 2007.- Actress
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Rabeah Ghaffari is an Iranian-born writer and filmmaker. Her collaborative fiction with artist Shirin Neshat was featured in "Reflections on Islamic Art" and her documentary, "The Troupe", featured Tony Kushner. Ghaffari's debut novel "To Keep The Sun Alive" was selected for the Indie Next List and chosen by The Millions among 2019's Most Anticipated Books. In addition to starred reviews, the novel was lauded by Powell's Books as "...the perfect novel..." and a "tenderhearted novel ... showing the enduring ramifications of filial and political violence" by the New Yorker. Ghaffari's narration of her novel's audio edition was nominated for a Voice Arts Award. Her most recent feature-length screenplay, "The Inheritors", was commissioned by producer/costume designer Patricia Field. Ghaffari is an alumna of IFP, the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Sundance Screenwriters Lab in conjunction with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan. She is based in New York and Mexico.- Producer
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Marie Selva was born in Paris to an Iranian Mother and French/Spanish Father.She is an artist, film director who studied at the film school of cinema in Paris, France. She travel around the world and she is fascinated by people. After long trip and so many short movie and documentary she start her first Independent feature film "Hole of Life" written , Produced, and Directed by her in Paris, France in 2015.
the story attracted much support from cast and crew due to it's originality and real life drama power.- Actress
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Nadia Bjorlin was born the fifth out of six children. Her parents were Ulf Björlin (a Swedish conductor and composer, known to be the world's most active opera composer during the 20th century) and Fary Bjorlin. Her siblings are Katja, Kaj, Kamilla, Ulf Jr and Jean Paul. (Each sibling have a history of artistic or creative work in their background. A very stunning and talented family indeed). Nadia was born in Newport, Rhode Island (USA), but her family soon moved to Sweden. This was only for a few short years before moving back to the USA again.
Nadia worked the opera scene before becoming an actress. It was a fast lane change by a sudden contract with NBC who needed an opera singing girl for a permanent part in a television series. Nadia has since then appeared in both movies and TV series. She has played lead characters in big screen productions and she has been a guest star in shows like CSI, Two an a half men, Two Broke Girls, as well as other comedy shows. Her talent is strong in comedy as well as in drama. She is also quite the dancer, which can be seen in Ricky Martin's music video "Shake Your Bon Bon". She was second runner up placing in Miss Teen Florida. Her voice won a sought after first place in a world proclaimed a opera competition in Italy.
Nadia is fluent in Swedish, English and Farsi. Because of her education in opera, she is schooled in several more languages like Italian and French. Nadia was a child prodigy who excelled in her studies at school as well as voice, theater, dance, and music. She started her professional career at six years old and won several awards while attending the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
She currently (2014) lives in California. Her school years were mostly in Palm Beach, Florida and New York. Her most beloved father died of leukemia in 1993. This has inspired Nadia to become a spokesperson and represent The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for many years now.- Actress
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Leyla--AKA Lucky #13 can be seen on several hit network shows, several upcoming motion picture releases, as well as a new nationally televised Budweiser commercial.
As Brittany, "the girl on the go in the 310," Leyla Milani adds to her ever growing list of film credits, appearing in this highly acclaimed independent movie, The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down. The theatrical opening of the feature film will occur nationwide on March 16, 2007. You can also see Leyla "Bring it" on her WWE Raw "Fan-nation" promos airing all year on USA network. Another of Leyla's feature film projects to be released later in the year is an award-winning horror film, "Wrestle Maniac."
In addition to her work on the large screen, Ms. Milani co-stars in the television show, My Network TV's "Desire: Table for Three." She's also co-starred in an episode of the hit series on Showtime, "Sleeper Cell" and her guest co-starring role on FOX TV's "Stacked" saw her face-off against Pam Anderson. Her appearance on the series "Las Vegas," - a guest starring spot along side Josh Duhamel and James Caan as a sexy diamond thief -- had male viewers on the edge of their seats. She'll be a co-star on Will and Jada Pinket - Smith's television series, "All of Us," and when Howie Mandel says "Open the Case" on the hit TV show, NBC's "Deal or No Deal," it seems that "Lucky Number 13" -- aka Leyla -- is a heartbreaker in real life and television. She always seems to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in her possession... enough to break the heart of any contestant, guy or girl.
Some of her newly cultivated legions of fans recognize Leyla as the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Raw Diva Search 2005 finalist and runner-up. Selected from 8,000 applicants, for 8 consecutive weeks, Leyla made her way through the stiff competition and appeared live in front of millions to become the #2 Diva. As a result of her repeated appearances on WWE and the millions of viewers watching her worldwide, Leyla's website receives thousands of hits daily. In response, www.leylamilani.com, a new "members only" section will hopefully satisfy her hardcore fans. Leyla's status as "runner-up" began the constant stream of traffic on her website which continues to this day. She plans to begin "video-chatting" with her online fans later this year.
Local fame came early with Leyla hosting an after-school television show at the age of 12. With a flurry of local modeling gigs and runway appearances, she had already become an in-demand face at a very early age.
After high school, the family moved from Toronto to Los Angeles. For Leyla this was exactly where she wanted to be. With her options completely open, she enrolled in L.A's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Amazingly, by the age of 20, Leyla Jeans Couture, her high-end contemporary denim line was already the talk of the industry. Another Leyla inspired line was also a hit with consumers, with the collection eventually finding its way into the mega Forever 21 stores, nationwide.
Her go-getter attitude paid off as Hollywood stood-up and took notice and Leyla began appearing with greater frequency on the small and large screen. She's appeared on several hit television shows including CMT's reality show, Popularity Contest, the new TNT drama, Wanted and Larry David's HBO smash, Curb Your Enthusiasm. She recently returned from Sao Paulo, Brazil where she performed on Show Fight, Brazil's version of UFC, broadcast all over South America.
With her newfound popularity and her will to succeed reaching new heights, Leyla remains in constant motion. With feature film roles in the works, the girl with that sexy mane and the heart of a lioness continues to accomplish her career goals as a sought-after host, model, actor and noted fashion designer.- Lanna Joffrey was born on 9 September 1977 in Iran. She is an actress, known for Fishing Naked (2015), The Murder Plans (2011) and Like No Tomorrow: An Apocalypse Anthology (2020).
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Nicole, the daughter of two prominent Iranian-American journalists, Nader Sadighi and Shahla Arasteh, grew up in London, England.
She has worked with Producer Georgia Masters (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) whom she'd worked with previously on the BAFTA nominated 'One Night Stand' starring Jemma Redgrave (Howard's End, Dracula, Doctor Who) and James Purefoy, (The Following, Revenge, A Knight's Tale, Resident Evil).
More recently winning many awards for starring in the foreign-language film 'I Am Neda', a passion project which was also her directorial debut at the 65th Cannes International Film Festival's American Pavilion. 'I Am Neda' also stars award-winning actress Mary Apick, (Dead End, Checkpoint, Homeland).
'I Am Neda' is an Iranian language film with English subtitles, based on a true story of the young Iranian woman Neda Agha Soltan whose murder went viral for the world to see, 'I Am Neda' has received a lot of attention from the press such as the Huffington Post and legendary film critics like F.X. Feeney of LA Weekly for its heartwarming yet controversial subject matter.
Being a passionate advocate of many causes, Nicole is keenly committed to exposing human rights violations across the globe. She was also a former fellow researcher at the Center for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy for Iran. She is often approached as a keynote spokesperson on behalf of numerous non-profit human rights groups and NGOs, both domestically and internationally . One of Nicole's most prominent invitations was from the famous group 'Hands Off Cain' in Rome, Italy, where she was invited alongside distinguished panelists, Italian politicians Marco Pannella and Daniele Capezzone. The conference was held in support of the UN General Assembly Resolution for the universal moratorium on capital punishment, which was also presented to the European Commission.
She not only has an artistic flair as a creative writer but has been a freelance writer for many leading publications and newspapers for a number of years.
Fortune led her to find the insight and inspiration to write, produce and direct her very first award-winning short film, 'I Am Neda', which she starred in as Neda, while also adding another hyphenate in front of her name as director. It was at this time she founded her own production company Persepolis Pictures.
The film has since won 11 awards and has received 21 nominations at different film festivals, such as USA Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival's American Pavilion. Including nominations for Best Actress for her performance as Neda, Best Director and Best Screenplay for 'I Am Neda'. In an interview with the BBC, Nicole commented: "As an actress who wore many hats for the making of I Am Neda, to also be recognized for my written and directorial debut is beyond thrilling. This film has been a huge endeavor for me, and there were so many challenges on the way. It has given me new found respects for the "Clint Eastwoods'" of the world who have not only written and directed but at times have starred in their own movies."
I Am Neda has won at the following film festivals:
Platinum Remi Special Jury Award: WorldFest Houston Int'l Film Festival 2012 Finalist: Cannes The American Pavilion for Emerging Filmmakers 2012 Finalist: USA Film Festival 2012 Best International Short: Burbank Int'l Film Festival 2012 Best Drama Short: Action on Film Int'l Film Festival 2012 Atlantis Award Best Film Score:(Rino Amato)Moondance Int'l Film Fest 2012 Best Short: World Music and Independent Film Festival 2012 Honorable Mention: Los Angeles Movie Awards 2012 Honorable Mention: Hollywood and Vine Film Festival 2012 Semi-Finalist: Best Short Film: Moondance Int'l Film Festival 2012
I Am Neda has been nominated at the following film festivals:
Official Selection Focus on World Film Montreal World Film Festival 2012 Nominated Best Actress in a Short (Nicole Kian Sadighi): WMI Film Fest 2012 Nominated Best Director in a Short(Nicole Kian Sadighi): WMI Film Fest 2012 Nominated Best Supporting Actress in a Short(Mary Apick): WMI Film Fest 2012 Nominated Best Screenplay Short (Nicole Kian Sadighi): WMI Film Fest 2012 Nominated Best Dialogue: Action on Film Int'l Film Festival 2012 Nominated Audience Choice Awards: Beverly Hills Film Festival 2012 Nominated Best Film: American Insights Free Speech Film Festival 2012 Nominated Best Foreign Film: BeFilm The Underground Film Festival 2012 Official Selection: Arpa Int'l Film Festival Official Selection 2012 Official Selection 2011: Santa Rosa International Film Festival.
Ms. Sadighi interviewed by has been interviewed and featured by C-Span, The Huffington Post, BBC, Associated Press, France24, Los Angeles Times, CCTV, Paris Match, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, Christian Science Monitor, Radio Vaticana, LA Observed, FrontPage Magazine, Women's Media Center, Universal Film Magazine, Kayhan London, and many more.- Shermine Sharivar was born on 17 September 1982 in Tehran, Iran. She is an actress, known for Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei (1996), Traveling Light (2021) and Die Verräter (2023).
- Freema Agyeman is a British actress who is known for playing Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2007-2010), Alesha Phillips in crime procedural drama Law & Order: UK (2009-2011), Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama Sense8 (2015-2018), and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical procedural series New Amsterdam (2018-2022).
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Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris, to Emma Augusta "Gusti" (Schweinberger) and Mohammed Adjani. Her father was a Kabyle Algerian, from Iferhounène, and her mother was a Bavarian German. She grew up speaking German fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theater by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture, Le Petit Bougnat (1970). Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Award for Best Actress (5), which she won for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983) (aka "One Deadly Summer"), Camille Claudel (1988), Queen Margot (1994) (aka "Queen Margot") and Skirt Day (2008) (aka "Skirt Day"). She was also given a double Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1981. She also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She performs in French, English, Italian and German. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2010.- Actress
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Shannon Elizabeth was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of a Syrian/Lebanese father. When Shannon was in 3rd grade, her family moved to Waco, Texas, to be close to relatives. As a girl, Shannon took dance lessons, including tap, ballet, and jazz. While attending high school, however, she was very interested in tennis. She even considered going pro and making tennis her life. During high school, she was active in cheerleading, dance team, and the student council. As a senior, Shannon was in a music video shot in Waco. The local music artists were called "Hi-5", and the director of that video just happened to be Antoine Fuqua. After graduating, Shannon moved to New York City to model. She then traveled all over the world with her newfound career to places that included Japan, Italy, France, and Australia. After moving to Los Angeles years later, she signed on with Ford Models and, eventually, Elite. Shannon had always wanted to start her acting career and had just modeled in hopes that it could help lead her into acting, which it did. About a year after moving to Los Angeles, she started taking acting classes with several different coaches. She got an agent, started working, and in 1999, she landed the iconic role of "Nadia" in the movie American Pie.
Shannon enjoys wearing even more hats these days. Since cutting her directing chops on music videos, she is now directing documentaries and film projects via her production company, Ganesha Productions. She also co-hosts the podcast The Art of Conservation.
Shannon also splits her time between the US and South Africa, running programs within her nonprofit, the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation. The mission is to improve this planet for the animals, environment, and indigenous people.- Actress
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Golsa Sarabi is an international star and an action actor. She was born in Tehran, Iran and now lives in Los Angeles. Golsa has a diverse experience in performing arts, which includes film, stage, producing and script writing. She has been one of the executive producers on the movie called "Dreams I never had" and got nominated as the Best Actress at the Burbank International Film Festival for her lead role opposite Malcolm McDowell and Robin Givens! She's done four short movies as being the producer and has finished a short movie at the Sundance Film Festival with being the First Title Above Billing, which got to the top three nominations. She also played as one of the leads in a TV Pilot called "By Design"! Golsa was the first winner of the "Young Acting Award" at the "Lee Strasberg institute" in Los Angeles, where she completed a two year intensive method acting program. She was the first Persian woman after 35 years of the revolution who was Ms. Iran at the "Queen of the Universe Pageant" and won the "Queen of the Universe" Award, motivated by the desire to empower women. As an honor student, who has a strong background in mathematics Olympiads, and was the winner of gold and silver medals in swimming and basketball competitions, she has earned multiple fitness training certifications, and is launching her own line of workout clothes in 2022, which will be marketed worldwide.- Actress
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Yasmine Al Massri is an international actress, contemporary artist and dancer. Born in Lebanon, from a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother. At age 20, she moved to Paris to study, and graduated from the prestigious L'Ecole des Beaux Arts de Paris in Multimedia and live performances.
Her artistic interdisciplinary career began in dancing, when in 2000 she joined the Thouraya Baghdadi's Dance company in Paris. Inspired by great choreographers, she explored classical and innovative ways of performing Arab repertoire and opened herself to world folklore, Flamenco, Salsa and African dance. Shortly afterwards she created her own personal style of performance and directed herself in numerous performance videos that have been seen in performance arts festivals around the world.
Al Massri's first big break as an actress was in the award-winning Lebanese film "Caramel" written and directed by Nadine Labaki. At the 2007 Cannes Film Festival it generated tremendous critical acclaim and went on to be the most successful Arab film to date. It also got Al Massri a best actress award with the film's ensemble of actresses at the Abu Dhabi International Film Festival, and later a nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Award 2007.
In 2008, director Najwa al Najjar cast Yasmine in the lead role of her award winning film "Pomegranates and Myrrh" alongside Hiam Abbass. The film opened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009 and Yasmine went on to win the Youssef Chahine Best Actress award for her performance at the Rabat International Film Festival.
In 2010 Yasmine starred in Julian Schnabel's internationally acclaimed film," Miral", alongside Vanessa Redgrave, Hiam Abbas, Frieda Pinto and Willem Dafoe. Her latest movie "The Last Friday", won the best film award at the Dubai International Film Festival 2011.
More recently, Yasmine was seen as a series regular opposite John Malkovich in the NBC series Crossbones and also as a series regular in the ABC series Quantico.
In 2015, Variety included her on their list of breakout performances, which also included the likes of Rami Malek, Aziz Ansari, Titus Burgess, Taraji P. Henson, Ben Mendelsohn and more.- Sara Loren was born on 11 December 1985 in Kuwait. She is an actress, known for Makan Aka Home a Heaven (2006), Kajraare (2010) and Sultanat (2014).
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Rula Jebreal is an Italo-Palestinian journalist, novelist and screenwriter with both Israeli and Italian citizenship. Her mother died when she was five, and her father put her and her sister in the Dar El-Tifel orphanage, where she was educated. She won a scholarship from the Italian government to study medicine at the University of Bologna and graduated with a degree in physiotherapy. While working as a physiotherapist, Jebreal went back to school at the University of Bologna, earning her masters in Journalism and Political Science.
She became the first foreign anchorwoman in the history of Italian television, winning a Media Watch award for her coverage of the Iraq war, and by age 33 earned the highest European journalism award, the International Ischia Award, for Best Journalist of the Year. Jebreal worked as a journalist in Italy for 12 years, earning a reputation for being one of the toughest interviewers because of her interviews with such prominent figures as Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, Silvio Berlusconi, Bill Gates, President Mahmoud Abbas, Bernard Kushner, Al Berdei and Ingrid Betancourt. In 2006 she became the co-presenter of AnnoZero (2006), the most important and controversial show in Italy, together with Michele Santoro. In 2008 Jebreal created her own television show in Cairo at Al-Qahira Wal-Nas, Egypt's main television station, where she filmed 30 episodes covering politics, economy and the collapse of society in Egypt under Hosni Mubarak's regime.
Jebreal's first novel, "Miral", published in 2003, was translated into 15 languages, sold millions of copies worldwide and was eventually made into a film--Miral (2010)--that was directed by Julian Schnabel, from Jebreal's screenplay. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 2, 2010, to a 15-minute standing ovation, and won the UNICEF Protection of Children award. "Miral" had its U.S. premiere at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, the first film ever to premiere there.
Jebreal's second novel, "The Bride of Aswan", was published in 2007 and was translated into five languages, winning the International Fince Europa Award. Her third book, "Rejected", is a non-fiction study about the history of immigration in Europe. It was published in Italy and France, and is used in universities in Italy.
Jebreal wrote and produced the documentary "Permesso di Sogiorno", about the death penalty in China, the United States and Iran during the UN debate over the death penalty moratorium in 2008. The critically acclaimed documentary aired on Italian television in 2008.- Director
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Born in Germany, to a Palestinian father and German mother, Lexi Alexander, a former World Kickboxing Champion and USMC close-quarter-combat instructor, worked her way up from stunt woman to Oscar-nominated director with her first short film Johnny Flynton, a drama about a boxer. Eager to learn a common language with actors, Lexi studied at the Piero Dusa Acting Conservatory before helming feature films including the SXSW Jury & Audience Award winning drama Green Street Hooligans, Marvel's Punisher: War Zone and Lifted. She directed episodes for TV shows such as ARROW, SUPERGIRL, SWAT and AMERICAN GOTHIC and has recently sold a movie to Blumhouse Productions & Netflix International. Lexi continues to be an avid martial artist and is currently a passionate student of the Russian style Systema.- Actress
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Jelena Noura "Gigi" Hadid is an American model. She was signed to IMG Models in 2013. In November 2014, Hadid made her debut in the Top 50 Models ranking at Models. In 2016, she was named International Model of the Year by the British Fashion Council.
Gigi Hadid was born and raised in Los Angeles to real estate developer Mohamed Hadid and former model Yolanda Hadid (née Van den Herik). Her mother is a Dutch-born American, and her father is Palestinian-American. Through her father she claims descent from Daher Al Omer, Prince of Nazareth and the Sheik of Galilee. Hadid has two younger siblings, a sister, Bella, and a brother, Anwar, both of whom are also models. She has two older, paternal half-sisters, Marielle and Alana. Following her parents' divorce, her mother married music producer David Foster, through whom she has five stepsisters. In 2013, Hadid graduated from Malibu High School, where she was captain of the varsity volleyball team as well as a competitive horseback rider. Following high school, she moved to New York City to focus on her studies and her modeling career. Hadid studied criminal psychology at The New School beginning in the fall 2013 but suspended her studies to focus on her modeling career.
Hadid's modeling career began when she was two years old after being discovered by Paul Marciano, of Guess clothing. She started modeling with Baby Guess before stopping to concentrate on school. Hadid eventually returned to modeling, in 2011. She resumed working with Marciano, and was named the face of a Guess campaign in 2012. Hadid has shot three campaigns with Guess as an adult. After moving to New York City and signing to IMG Models in 2013, Hadid made her New York Fashion Week debut in February 2014 walking for Desigual's show. In the same month she got her break in high fashion on the cover of CR Fashion Book magazine. On July 15, 2014, she starred alongside actor and model Patrick Schwarzenegger in fashion designer Tom Ford's Eyewear autumn/winter campaign. She co-hosted the Daily Front Row's Fashion Media Awards event that was held in New York City on September 5, 2014. Hadid has also starred in campaigns for Tom Ford F/W 2014, Tom Ford Velvet Orchard Fragrance and Tom Ford Beauty 2014. She was on the cover of Galore magazine and Carine Roitfeld's CR Fashion Book in 2014.
Hadid and her sister, Bella, started off the Spring/Summer campaign season together - the sisters starred alongside one another in both that seasons' Fendi and Moschino campaigns. Hadid also starred as the face of the S/S 2017 campaign for Max Mara accessories, Stuart Weitzman and DSQUARED2. The second Tommy Hilfiger and Gigi Hadid ready-to-wear collection was presented in February 2017 for the Spring season. Hadid was the photographer of the Versus (Versace) Spring Summer 2017 campaign which featured singer Zayn Malik and model Adwoah Aboah. She also photographed a special summer edition of V Magazine titled Gigi's Journal, which featured Polaroids of fashion industry colleagues, celebrities and close friends. Hadid was featured on four March 2017 Vogue covers: United States, Britain, China, and the inaugural Arabia edition. She also appeared on the covers for the CR Fashion Book (Spring/Summer 2017), Jolie (April 2017) and The Daily (Spring 2017). She featured on the May 2017 covers for the Netherlands editions of Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Glamour as well as the June/July 2017 cover of US Harper's Bazaar. Hadid has starred in editorials for Vogue US (April 2017) and LOVE Magazine (Spring/Summer 2017). During Fall/Winter 2017 Fashion Month in New York, Milan and Paris, Hadid opened the shows for Jeremy Scott, Anna Sui, Versus (Versace), Alberta Ferretti, Missoni, H&M and Balmain; and closed the shows for Isabel Marant, Moschino, Max Mara and Anna Sui.[67]At The Daily Front Row's third annual Fashion Los Angeles Awards, Hadid was honored for the Best Design Debut for her collection with Tommy Hilfiger.- Actress
Isabella Khairiah "Bella" Hadid was born on October 9, 1996 in Washington, D.C. & raised in Los Angeles, California to real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid and former model Yolanda Hadid. Her mother is a Dutch-born American, and her father is Palestinian American. Hadid has two siblings, an older sister named Gigi, who is also a model, and a younger brother, Anwar. She has two older half-sisters, Marielle and Alana, on her father's side.
Hadid and her siblings were originally raised on a ranch in Santa Barbara, California for ten years. As a teenager, Hadid was an equestrian and had dreams of attending the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro but had to give up competing in 2013 due to her suffering from chronic Lyme disease. It was not announced that she suffered from chronic Lyme until October 2015. She was diagnosed, along with her mother and brother, with the chronic illness in 2012.
In fall of 2014, Hadid moved to New York City and began studying photography at the Parsons School of Design, signing to IMG shortly before. She has since dropped out of school due to the success of her modeling career, but has expressed interest in returning to school to take on Fashion Photography as a career once she is done modeling. Hadid has also expressed interest in acting.
Hadid began modeling at age 16 with a Flynn Skye commercial project. Hadid also starred in the "Swan Sittings" by Lesa Amoore, alongside actor Ben Barnes, and "Smoking Hot" by Holly Copeland, modeled for Hannah Hayes F/W 2013 collection, various other commercial projects, and had done campaign work for Chrome Hearts in summer 2013 and 2014.
She made her New York Fashion Week debut in the fall of 2014, walking for Desigual. In the spring fashion weeks of 2015, Hadid walked for Tom Ford in Los Angeles, and walked in the amfAR 22nd Cinema Against AIDs Gala fashion show in May. In the fall 2015 New York Fashion Week, she walked for Diane von Fürstenberg, Tommy Hilfiger, Jeremy Scott (she closed his show), and Marc Jacobs. At London Fashion Week, walked for Topshop Unique and Giles, and at Milan Fashion Week for Philipp Plein, Moschino, Missoni, and Bottega Veneta. While at Paris Fashion Week she walked for Balmain. In December 2015 she made her Chanel debut, walking for the first time in the luxury brand's Métiers d'Art show in Rome.
In December 2014, Hadid made her first cover appearance on Jalouse Magazine and was featured on Day 27 of Love Magazine's Love Advent that same year. Hadid appeared on the November 2015 cover of Seventeen and has shot editorials for magazines, including Vogue Australia and Elle. She was also on the cover of Unconditional Magazine, Grey Magazine, Jalouse Magazine, V Magazine (with sister, Gigi), Editorialist, Wonderlands 10th Birthday Issue, S Moda, Evening Standard, Teen Vogue, and Twin Magazine F/W Issue.
In January, Hadid made her Chanel Couture debut during Paris Haute Couture S/S Fashion Week. She walked exclusively for Givenchy and walked for Chanel and Miu Miu at their shows in Paris Fashion Week in March 2016, as well as walking for FentyxPuma in New York Fashion Week in February 2016. She also made her first Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia appearance in May 2016, exclusively opening and closing the Misha Resort 2017 show. Hadid walked for the amfAR 23rd Cinema Against AIDs fashion show and Dior Cruise 2017 show in London in May. In June, she walked in the Haute Couture segment of Givenchy's Menswear S/S 2017 show during Men's Paris Fashion Week. During Paris Haute Couture F/W Fashion week she walked for both Versace, Dior, and Alexandre Vauthier, where she closed the show. Hadid also closed the show for Fendi Haute Couture in Rome later that week. Hadid started off the S/S 2017 season during NYFW, opening for DKNY and walking for Michael Kors, Anna Sui, Ralph Lauren, and Marc Jacobs. During London Fashion Week Hadid walked exclusively for Versus Versace, opening the show. The next week, in Milan, she opened for Alberta Ferretti and Fendi; as well as walking for Max Mara, Moschino, Versace, Bottega Veneta, and closing for Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini. On November 30, Hadid walked in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, wearing two looks, one from their Bright Night Angels segment and one from Secret Angels. Her Bright Night Angels look also featured a pair of wings.
During 2016, she appeared on the covers of Seventeen Magazine Mexico, Self Service Magazine, CR Fashion Book's #CRGirs, V Magazine, Harper's Bazaar Spain, Japan, Australia, and Russia; Elle Brasil, US, UK, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia; Allure, Double Magazine, Glamour Germany, US, Russia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Iceland; Exit magazine, W magazine Korea, L'Officiel Russia, Sunday Times Style, British GQ, Flare, and Paper Magazine. In May, Hadid spotlighted on her first Vogue cover for Vogue Turkey, a Vogue Me cover with Korean rapper G-Dragon in August, and received another three Vogue covers for Japan, Italia, and Paris, alongside model Taylor Hill, in September. She had editorials in these magazines, as well as in; Glamour UK, British GQ, LOVE Club, Dazed, W Magazine, Vogue US and Paris, as well as an online editorial in Vogue for Valentine's Day. In May, Hadid made her first short film appearance of the year, starring in Tyer Ford's film, Private. Hadid was also the star of LOVE Advent's calendar for Day 1 in a segment entitled "Aerobics".- Actress
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Zahra Noorbakhsh is known for One Angry Dwarf (2001), Transmission (2009) and Stand Up Planet (2013).- Actress
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Mikaela Mehrizi Hoover was born on July 12 in Colbert, Washington and is the first of 4 siblings. Mikaela started taking dance classes at age 2 and stared school plays and local commercials as a child. She was a cheerleader in high school and the captain of her high school dance team as well as being on the Debate team. After graduation she was accepted to Loyola Marymount University's theatre program in Los Angeles. After getting her BA in theatre she booked the first movie she auditioned for called "Frank". She later went on to play the role of Madison in the WB's "Sorority Forever" and landed a recurring role on the ABC show "Happy Endings". She has guest starred on many extremely popular sitcoms including "How I Met Your Mother", "Two and a Half Men", "Saint George", "The League", and "Anger Management". She has done many projects with writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) including "The Sparky and Mikaela Show", "PG Porn", "Humanzee", and the movie "Super".- Sheila Vand was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. Sheila is an actor, known for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), Argo (2012) and We the Animals (2018).
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Marnò was born in Los Angeles, and went to boarding school at Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts. She then received a BA in Comparative Literature from Barnard College, Columbia University and an MFA in Acting at the Yale School of Drama. She has received additional training at the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota and at the Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab in New York.
Marnò received rave reviews for the one-woman show "Nine Parts of Desire" in which she portrayed nine different Middle Eastern women which ran at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
Marnò has lived in France, Germany, Sweden and Argentina, and speaks english, French, German, Farsi, and Spanish.
She is also a playwright. Her first play, When the Lights Went Out, premiered at New York Stage & Film, starring Laura Innes, directed by Kate Whoriskey.
She is the voice of Mirabelle Ervine and Namira in the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.- Actress
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Hafsia Herzi , born in Manosque, is a French actress and director. She grew up in Marseille.
Hafsia Herzi, of Tunisian origin by her father and Algerian by her mother, is the youngest of a family of four children (two brothers and a sister, Dalila).
In 2019, she released her first feature film as a director, You deserve a love , followed by Bonne Mère two years later.
Hafsia Herzi was only 13 years old when she landed a role, albeit a minor one, in Notes sur le rire, a TV movie for France 3 adapted from the novel by Marcel Pagnol. She followed this up with a few extra roles, and auditioned for the series Plus belle la vie and Sous le soleil; trials at the end of which she was not selected.
It was in 2005 that her luck changed for the young actress: her meeting with Abdellatif Kechiche proved decisive, as he offered her the lead role in La Graine et le mulet, in which she brilliantly and sincerely played the character of Rym. A first try, a master stroke: Hafsia Herzi won the Marcello Mastroianni Prize at the 64th Venice Film Festival in 2007, and the César for the Best Female Hopeful (meilleur espoir féminin) in early 2008.
Having never taken acting classes, she left Marseille and moved to Paris, where she enrolled in law at the university, took acting classes at the conservatory and even took diction classes to soften her Mediterranean accent. She decided to devote herself exclusively to the cinema, and quickly obtained the main roles in Française and L'Aube du monde, for which she learned Iraqi. In 2009, she plays under the direction of Francis Huster in Un homme et son chien, alongside Jean-Paul Belmondo before sharing the star with Jacques Dutronc for the fourth film of Xavier De Choudens: Joseph et la fille.
The year 2011 seems to be the year of consecration for the young actress because we find it in the poster of four films and not least: Jimmy Rivière's Teddy Lussi-Modeste, Le Chat du rabbin where she lends himself to the exercise of dubbing, L' Apollonide - souvenirs de la maison - close de Bertrand Bonello et La Source des femmes by Radu Mihaileanu, alongside the much sought after Leïla Bekhti. In Hiam Abbass' Héritage, the actress plays the rebellious Hajar, the youngest daughter of the Arab family at the center of the film.
More and more present on the screens, Hafsia Herzi multiplies projects and her roles gain importance, like her performances in Fugues marocaines, Le Sac de farine, Certifiée halal or Sex Doll. She also collaborates again with Abdellatif Kechiche on the two controversial Mektoub, my love. The actress also tastes the joys of the thriller via Persona non grata by Roschdy Zem, in which she gives the line to Nicolas Duvauchelle and Raphael Personnaz.
In 2019, the actress directs her first feature film, Tu mérites un amour, in which she also plays the lead role.- Actress
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Claudia Doumit is an Australian actress. She portrayed Jiya Marri in the NBC series Timeless and is best known for her portrayal of Farah Karim from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Victoria Neuman from the Amazon Prime Video original series The Boys. Claudia Doumit was born in Sydney, Australia. She has one older brother named James.Doumit studied at the Actors College of Theatre and Television (ACTT) and The Actors Centre Australia. Although she was rejected from National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Kensington, Australia, she did attend a couple of classes. She also took a two-year intensive program with the Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Los Angeles.- Actress
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Natasha Behnam is a bilingual actress, comedian and writer who received her BA from Loyola Marymount University's prestigious Film & TV Production school. She stars in the upcoming HBO Max show "The Girls on the Bus." On the feature front, she starred in the Universal Studios / Netflix reboot of "American Pie: Girls' Rules" (2020), and Hulu's holiday Rom-Com, "Cupid for Christmas" (2021). Her TV credits include Mayans (recurring, FX/Hulu), Camp Friends (series lead, HBOMax pilot '22), and Crazy Ex Girlfriend (Guest Star, CW). Natasha is a UCB and Groundlings trained improviser, and has performed with a plethora of sketch and improv teams over the years. In 2021, she was an Actress & Writer for the ViacomCBS Comedy Showcase, and she continues to write and direct her own projects. Aside from acting, Natasha has an affinity for traveling and learning new languages (she speaks basic German and French, and is fluent in Farsi, English, and Spanish). She is a meditation teacher, trained in multiple lineages, and brings a soulful touch of genuine human connection to all of her work.- May Calamawy (born October 28, 1986) is a Bahraini born, Egyptian-Palestinian actress. She completed her undergrad in Acting at Emerson College and continued her studies at William Esper. She is known for the Hulu series Ramy, Marvel's Moon Knight for Disney+, National Geographic's The Long Road Home, CBS' FBI and Madame Secretary, and NBC's The Brave.
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Yasmeen Tori Fletcher is an American actress and musician. She is best known for role as Nakia Bahadir in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel (2022). Fletcher was born in Orange County, California to parents Troy, a pool contractor and Maysoun, a defense attorney. She is of Lebanese descent on her mother's side. From the age of three, she grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada with her younger sister. After commuting between Las Vegas and California for a number of years, the family officially relocated to La Crescenta at the end of 2018.