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Golshifteh Farahani
Golshifteh Farahani
گلشیفته فراهانی
	Farahani at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Rahavard Farahani; 10 July 1983 (age 41); Tehran, Iran
Citizenship	Iran; France;
Alma mater	University of Applied Science and Technology
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Father	Behzad Farahani
Relatives	Shaghayegh Farahani (sister)

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.

Early life

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] The name Golshifteh was invented by her father and means "loving flower", whereas her legal name is Rahavard, and means "gift of the road". She 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]

Career

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] Since moving to Paris,^[5] 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 starred in The Patience Stone (2012), directed by Atiq Rahimi from his novel; it was favorably received by most reviewers.^[6] 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.^[7]

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.

Non-film work

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.^[8]

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]

Controversy

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]

Personal life

In 2003, Farahani married Amin Mahdavi, the brother of interior designer India Mahdavi, and from whom she later separated.^[18] She was also in a relationship with Louis Garrel,^[3] who directed and co-starred with her in Two Friends (2015).^[19] In a September 2015 interview published in Grazia, Farahani revealed that she had married Christos Dorje Walker, an Australian, five months earlier.^[19]^[20] As of May 2018, she was in a relationship with a "German hippie" who she met in the Nevada desert at the Burning Man festival".^[21]

In November 2017, after living in Paris for eight years, she moved to Ibiza, splitting her time between there and Porto, Portugal.^[21]^[22] She had previously indicated her intent to leave France, explaining that she was severely impacted by the bureaucracy and banking system.^[19]

Filmography

Film

Key
†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1998	The Pear Tree	Mitra	Dariush Mehrjui
2001	Seven Acts	Fereshteh	Farzad Motamen
2002	Zamaneh	Zamaneh	Hamid Reza Salahmand
2003	Two Angels	Azar	Mohammad Haghighat
2004	Somewhere Else	Raha	Mehdi Karampour
	Boutique	Eti	Hamid Nematollah
	The Tear of the Cold	Ronak	Azizollah Hamidnejad
2005	The Fish Fall in Love	Touka	Ali Rafie
2005	Bab'Aziz	Noor	Nacer Khemir
2006	Gis Borideh	Maryam	Jamshid Heidari
	In the Name of the Father	Habibeh	Ebrahim Hatamikia
	Half Moon	Niwemang	Bahman Ghobadi
	M for Mother	Sepideh	Rasoul Mollagholipour
2007	The Music Man	Hanieh	Dariush Mehrjui
2007	To Each His Own Cinema	Herself	Abbas Kiarostami
2008	The Wall	Setareh	Mohammad Ali Talebi
	There's Always a Woman in Between	Maryam	Kamal Tabrizi
	Shirin	Woman in audience	Abbas Kiarostami
	Body of Lies	Aisha	Ridley Scott
2009	About Elly	Sepideh	Asghar Farhadi
2011	If You Die, I'll Kill You	Siba	Huner Saleem
	There Be Dragons	Leila	Roland Joffé
	Chicken With Plums	Iran	Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud
2012	The Patience Stone	The Woman	Atiq Rahimi
2012	Just Like a Woman	Mona	Rachid Bouchareb
2013	My Sweet Pepper Land	Govend	Huner Saleem
2014	Rosewater	Maryam Bahari	Jon Stewart
	Eden	Yasmin	Mia Hansen-Løve
	Exodus: Gods and Kings	Nefertari	Ridley Scott
2015	Two Friends	Mona	Louis Garrel
2015	Go Home	Nada	Jihane Chouaib
2016	Sophie's Misfortunes	Madame de Réan	Christophe Honoré
	Finding Altamira	Conchita	Hugh Hudson
	Paterson	Laura	Jim Jarmusch
2017	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	Shansa	Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg
	The Song of Scorpions	Nooran	Anup Singh
	Shelter	Mona	Eran Riklis
	The Upside	Maggie	Neil Burger
	Santa & Cie	Amélie	Alain Chabat
2018	The Night Eats the World	Sarah	Dominique Rocher
2018	Girls of the Sun	Bahar	Eva Husson
2019	Blind Spot	Elham	Patrick-Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic
2019	Arab Blues	Selma Derwich	Manele Labidi
2020	Extraction	Nik Khan	Sam Hargrave
2022	Brother and Sister	Faunia Vuillard	Arnaud Desplechin
	My Father's Dragon	Dela Elevator	Nora Twomey	Voice only
	A Romantic Comedy	Salomé	Thibault Segouin
2023	Extraction 2	Nik Khan	Sam Hargrave
2024	Hood Witch	Nour	Saïd Belktibia
	Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust	242B	Ishan Shukla	Voice only
	William Tell	Suna	Nick Hamm
	Reading Lolita in Tehran	Azar Nafisi	Eran Riklis
TBA	The Thing That Hurts		Arnaud Desplechin
TBA	Alpha		Julia Ducournau

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018–2021	Gen:Lock	Yasamin 'Yaz' Madrani	Voice only
2021	VTC	Nora	Main role, 5 episodes Also known as Surge
2021–present	Invasion	Aneesha Malik	Main role, 20 episodes

Music video

Year	Song	Artist	Notes
2014	"Pola"	Jabberwocky	^[23]
2018	"Paradis"	Orelsan

Theatre

Year	Play	Role	Notes
2003	Maryam and Mardavij	Mayan
2004	The Black Narcissus		Workshop
2005	Mofatesh (The Inspector)	Firoozeh	Banned in Iran
2013	A Private Dream	Sarah	Toured North America (March–April 2013)
2016	Anna Karenina	Anna Karenina	Toured around France and in Paris at the Théâtre de la Tempête directed by Gaëtan Vassart

Concerts

Date	Venue	Notes
10 August 2009	Sala Verdi, Milan Conservatory	With Mohsen Namjoo, presentation of the new album Oy
9 November 2009	Lido, Venice	With Mohsen Namjoo, during the Venice Film Festival
28 October 2022	River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires	Guest appearance at Coldplay's Music of the Spheres, performed Baraye^[11]

Awards and nominations

Name of the award ceremony, year presented, category, nominee of the award, and the result of the nomination
Award	Year	Category	Nominated Work	Result
Abu Dhabi Film Festival	2012	Best Actress – New Horizons	The Patience Stone	Won
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	2009	Best Performance by an Actress	About Elly	Nominated
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	2013	Best Performance by an Actress	My Sweet Pepper Land	Nominated
Asian Film Awards	2013	Best Actress	The Patience Stone	Nominated
Asian Film Awards	2013	People's Choice for Best Actress	The Patience Stone	Nominated
Asolo Art Film Festival	2008	Eleonora Duse Award	Herself	Won
Chlotrudis Awards	2018	Best Supporting Actress	Paterson	Nominated
César Awards	2014	Most Promising Actress	The Patience Stone	Nominated
Fajr International Film Festival	1998	Best Actress – International Competition	The Pear Tree	Won
	2004	Best Actress in a Leading Role – National Competition	The Tear of the Cold	Nominated
	2008	Best Actress in a Leading Role – National Competition	There's Always a Woman in Between	Nominated
Gijón International Film Festival	2012	Best Actress	The Patience Stone	Won
Hafez Awards	2005	Best Actress – Motion Picture	The Tear of the Cold	Won
	2007		M for Mother	Nominated
	2011		About Elly	Nominated
Indiana Film Journalists Association US	2016	Best Supporting Actress	Paterson	Nominated
International Online Cinema Awards	2015	Best Actress	About Elly	Nominated
Iran Cinema Celebration	2004	Best Actress in a Leading Role	The Tear of the Cold	Won
	2004	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Boutique	Nominated
	2005	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	The Fish Fall in Love	Nominated
	2006	Best Actress in a Leading Role	M for Mother	Nominated
	2010	Best Actress in a Leading Role	About Elly	Nominated
Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association	2008	Best Actress in a Leading Role	The Wall	Nominated
Kazan International Film Festival	2006	Best Actress	The Tear of the Cold	Won
Kazan International Film Festival	2008	Best Actress	M for Mother	Won
Kowsar Film Festival	2007	Best Actress	M for Mother	Won
Lumières Award	2016	Best Female Revelation	Two Friends	Nominated
Nantes Three Continents Festival	2004	Best Actress	Boutique	Won
Roshd International Film Festival	2007	Best Actress	M for Mother	Won
Stony Brook Film Festival	2014	Outstanding Performance	My Sweet Pepper Land	Nominated

References

^ "Golshifteh Farahani" (in Persian). Soureh Cinema. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b Tehrani, Souraya (22 August 2008). "Hollywood postponed". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
^ ^a ^b Rouiller, Nathalie (14 October 2019). "Golshifteh Farahani, aveuglante". Libération. 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...
^ ^a ^b Christianson, Emily. "FRESH FACE: Golshifteh Farahani". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2009.
^ "DiCaprio Co-Star in Islamic Hot Water? at Hollywood.com". Archived from the original on 9 October 2008. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
^ "The Patience Stone". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
^ "Golshifteh Farahani in Pirates of the Caribbean". Archived from the original on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
^ "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.
^ "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.
^ 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.
^ ^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.
^ "Colleague denies Iran actress faced travel ban: report" Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, AFP, Tehran, 26 August 2008.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ "Iranian reactions to Golshifteh Farahani's nude photo". Tabeer. Archived from the original on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Franck-Dumas, Elisabeth (7 June 2012). "Mon nom est persane". Libération. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Louaguef, Sarah (8 September 2015). "L'heureux élu est Australien - Golshifteh Farahani annonce son mariage". parismatch.com. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
^ "Photo : Golshifteh Farahani et son mari Christos Dorje Walker lors du gala d'ouverture de l'Opéra national de Paris pour la saison 2016-2017, le 24 septembre 2016". purepeople.com. 25 September 2016. Archived from the original on 5 November 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2024..
^ ^a ^b Schneider, Vanessa (6 May 2018). "Golshifteh Farahani, des racines et des ailes". Le Monde. Archived from the original on 10 September 2024. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
^ Boyd, Maya (4 August 2022). "'We are all exiles here': Golshifteh Farahani's remarkable Ibiza journey". L'Officiel Ibiza. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
^ "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.