Golshifteh Farahani


Contributors to Wikimedia projects

Article Images

Rahavard Farahani (Persian: رهاورد فراهانی; born 10 July 1983), known professionally as Golshifteh Farahani (گلشیفته فراهانی), is an Iranian and French actress. She is known for her performances in M for Mother (2006), Body of Lies (2008), About Elly (2009), The Patience Stone (2012), Paterson (2016), Girls of the Sun (2018), Extraction (2020) and its sequel Extraction 2 (2023), and Invasion (2021–present). She was nominated for the Most Promising Actress Award for The Patience Stone at the 2014 César Awards.

Golshifteh Farahani

گلشیفته فراهانی

Farahani in 2023

Born

Rahavard Farahani


10 July 1983 (age 41)

Tehran, Iran

Citizenship
  • Iran
  • France
Alma materUniversity of Applied Science and Technology[1]
OccupationActress
Years active1996–present
FatherBehzad Farahani
RelativesShaghayegh Farahani (sister)
 
Farahani in 2006

Farahani was born in Tehran, Iran. She is the daughter of Behzad Farahani, a theatre director and actor, and Fahimeh Rahim Nia. Her sister is actress Shaghayegh Farahani.[2] Golshifteh began studying music and piano at the age of five, and later entered a music school in Tehran. At 14, she was cast as the lead in Dariush Mehrjui's The Pear Tree, a role for which she won the Crystal Roc for Best Actress from the International Section of the 16th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran.[3]

Farahani starred in the drama About Elly, which won Best Picture at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Due to her appearance in the Hollywood movie Body of Lies, seen by Iranian authorities as a collaboration with American propaganda and a violation of Islamic law due to Farahani's appearance without hijab, she has not been allowed to return and work in Iran since 2009, and has since resided in France.[4] Farahani starred in The Patience Stone (2012), directed by Atiq Rahimi from his novel; it was favorably received by most reviewers.[5] She also starred in a 2012 César Award video in the Most Promising Actors category.

In 2016, Farahani played Anna Karenina on stage in Paris and received laudatory reviews. She also played the lead role of Laura in director Jim Jarmusch's American feature film Paterson, opposite actor Adam Driver. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews, scoring 96% approval on the movie site Rotten Tomatoes.

In 2017, she appeared in the fantasy film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales as the sea witch Shansa.[6]

In 2020, she was in the action film Extraction as Nik Khan.[citation needed]

She was slated to appear in director Dariush Mehrjui's film Rumi's Kimia,[citation needed] which will be based on Saideh Ghods's novel Kimia Khatoon.

Farahani is involved in environmental causes, and is an advocate for the eradication of tuberculosis in Iran.[citation needed]

In Iran, she was a member of Kooch Neshin (Nomads), a band that won the 2nd Tehran Avenue underground rock competition. Since leaving Iran, she has teamed up with another exiled Iranian musician, Mohsen Namjoo; their album Oy was released in October 2009.[citation needed]

In December 2014, she took 6th place in the annual Independent Critics Beauty List of 2014.[7]

Since moving to Paris,[8] she has worked with directors Roland Joffé, Huner Saleem and Marjane Satrapi, among others, and was a member of the international jury at the 63rd Locarno Film Festival.

Farahani, who has been exiled from Iran since 2008 for refusing to wear a hijab while acting in international films, has publicly supported the Mahsa Amini protests.[9][10] On 28 October 2022, British rock band Coldplay invited Farahani to perform with them a cover of Shervin Hajipour's Baraye, which has been described as "the anthem" of the protests, at the band's concert at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires. The concert was broadcast live to over 3,500 theatres worldwide in more than 70 countries as part of a two-night-only live-event cinema special during the Latin America leg of the band's Music of the Spheres World Tour.[11]

 
Golshifteh Farahani during an interview with BBC Persian

After Farahani's appearance in the U.S. film Body of Lies, it was reported that Iranian government authorities had prevented her from leaving Iran.[2] However, this was denied by her colleagues, and she appeared at the movie's American premiere.[12] Her last film performance in Iran was in About Elly directed by Asghar Farhadi.[4]

In January 2012, it was reported that Farahani would not be welcome in her native Iran after posing nude in the French magazine Madame Figaro.[13] According to Britain's Daily Telegraph, Iranian government officials told her, "Iran does not need actors or artists like you. You may offer your artistic services somewhere else."[14] A picture from the shoot on her Facebook page initiated a lively debate about her behavior.[15] She also appeared topless in a short black-and-white film by Jean-Baptiste Mondino called Corps et Âmes (Bodies and Souls).[16] She also posed for fully nude photographs taken by Paolo Roversi for an Égoïste cover and editorial.[17]

Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released

Awards and nominations

edit

  1. ^ "Golshifteh Farahani" (in Persian). Soureh Cinema. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b Tehrani, Souraya (22 August 2008). "Hollywood postponed". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  3. ^ Rouiller, Nathalie (14 October 2019). "Golshifteh Farahani, aveuglante". liberation.fr. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2021. Sur les registres, la belle s'appelle Rahavard, "cadeau de la route", en allusion aux chemins de hasard et à leurs surprises d'importance. [...] On l'imaginait double nationale, elle affirme n'avoir qu'un passeport, le tricolore [...] "On n'est pas responsable de la peur des hommes", dit l'ex de Louis Garrel, deux fois mariée et séparée....
  4. ^ a b Christianson, Emily. "FRESH FACE: Golshifteh Farahani". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
  5. ^ "The Patience Stone". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Golshifteh Farahani in Pirates of the Caribbean". Archived from the original on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  7. ^ "100 Most Beautiful Faces 2014... – Independent Critics by TC Candler | Independent Critics by TC Candler". Tccandler.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  8. ^ "DiCaprio Co-Star in Islamic Hot Water? at Hollywood.com". Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Exiled Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani lauds protests over Amini's death". Agence France-Presse. 11 October 2022. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022 – via Al Arabiya.
  10. ^ Makooi, Bahar (1 October 2022). "French feminists mobilise in solidarity with Iranian protesters". France 24. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  11. ^ a b Gillett, Katy (30 October 2022). "Coldplay perform 'Baraye' in Farsi with Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani". The National. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  12. ^ "Colleague denies Iran actress faced travel ban: report" Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, AFP, Tehran, 26 August 2008.
  13. ^ Tait, Robert (17 July 2012). "Iran imposes travel ban on star actresses". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  14. ^ McElroy, Damien (18 January 2012). "Iranian actress banned from homeland after naked magazine shoot". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  15. ^ "Iranian reactions to Golshifteh Farahani's nude photo". Tabeer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  16. ^ Memarian, Omid (20 January 2012). "Nude Photo of Iranian Actress Golshifteh Farahani Roils Iran". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  17. ^ Richford, Rhonda (20 May 2015). "Cannes: Golshifteh Farahani Talks Nudity and Middle East Politics at Women in Motion Panel (Video)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  18. ^ "Jabberwocky: Pola, le titre lancinant et addictif dévoilé". Lefigaro.fr. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 27 May 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2016.