Reza Naji

Reza Naji
رضا ناجی
Naji in 2008, after Berlin International Film Festival
Born (1942-12-26) 26 December 1942 (age 81)
Tabriz, Iran

Reza Naji (pronunciationⓘ) is an Iranian theatre, film and TV actor and an iconic figure of Iranian cinema.

Career

Naji started his career in theater as a teenager. While serving in the Iranian army, he continued to perform. His first film role was Children of Heaven (1997), which proved to be a breakthrough. For the role of Ali's father, director Majid Majidi sought an actor with an Azeri accent, and Naji was carefully selected from a group of 2,500 actors tested for the role.

Since then, he has played various roles in Iranian cinema. Among his most notable performances is Majidi's The Song of Sparrows, for which Naji won the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, and Best Performance by an Actor at the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1997 Children of Heaven Ali's Father
1998 Birth of a Butterfly
2001 Baran Memar
2002 Parandeh baz-e kouchak
2005 The Willow Tree Morteza
2007 Sargije
2008 The Song of Sparrows Karim Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival[citation needed]
2014 Harud Yusuf Kashmiri film
2014 Toward Freedom
2014 Teacher
2014 Love is not Closed
2018 We Are All Together
2020 After the Incident

Awards

References

  1. ^ "APSA Nominees & Winners". Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
  2. ^ Iran’s Naji wins more top accolades of world cinema Tehran Times, November 13, 2008.