Bijan Daneshmand

Bijan Daneshmand (, born 16 August 1958) is an Iranian actor and artist based in London, England. He is known for producing and starring in 20 Fingers, which won the Best Digital Film award at the 61st Venice International Film Festival; for his roles in Shirin Neshat's Women Without Men (2009) and Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow (2016); as the character Kouyami in The Night Manager (2016), directed by Susanne Bier; and for portraying Ali Reza Jamshidpour in Maryam Keshavarz's The Persian Version (2023) and Rasoul Shahin in the Netflix series The Diplomat.

Early life and education Bijan Daneshmand was born on 16 August 1958 in Tehran, Iran. At the age of 10, he moved to England to receive his early education.

After graduating from King's College London, he attended the London Centre for Theatre Studies and the Philippe Gaulier School in Paris to develop his acting skills. Later, he obtained an MA from Chelsea College of Arts. William Orbit made recordings there for projects associated with Madonna, U2 and Pink. In 2003, Daneshmand sold his family interest in the business, to focus entirely on his art and acting.

Film and television In 2004, Daneshmand produced and acted in 20 Fingers, a feature film, directed by and co-starring Mania Akbari. Filmed by Touraj Aslani with a digital video camera, the film consists of seven long takes in which Daneshmand and Akbari portray a couple, who discuss and argue about their relationship.

In 2006, Daneshmand wrote and directed the avant-garde film, A Snake's Tail. It was named Best International Feature at the Bare Bones International Film Festival in Oklahoma and was screened at the Festival Do Rio and the Frankfurt International Film Festival.

In 2009, Daneshmand appeared in Women Without Men, which was directed by Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari. It is based on the 1990 novel by Shahrnush Parsipur. The film addresses gender and political issues in Iran and received the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

In 2011, Daneshmand portrayed a teacher in Two & Two, which was directed by Babak Anvari, co-produced by Kit Fraser, and written by Babak Anvari and Gavin Cullen. The eight-minute film follows a teacher who instructs his pupils that two plus two equals five. It was nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award for Best Short Film in 2012.

In 2016, Daneshmand played the role of university director in Under the Shadow, a Persian-language psychological horror film directed by Babak Anvari. Set in Tehran during the Iran–Iraq War, the film follows a mother and daughter experiencing supernatural events. It premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer in 2017.

In 2021, Daneshmand wrote and directed the Persian-language web series, The Bahramis.

In 2022, Daneshmand was cast as a AliReza Jamshidpour, one of the principal characters in Maryam Keshavarz's film The Persian Version. The film premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in January 2023, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award and the Audience Award.

In 2025, Daneshmand portrayed Baba, the father of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in the four-part BBC One factual drama Prisoner 951.

Radio Daneshmand has appeared regularly in BBC Radio productions, including Baghdad Burning (2010), the Radio 4 drama The Boy from Aleppo Who Painted the War (2014)

Voice acting In 2024, Daneshmand performed as the voice character of King Darius, in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown video game by Ubisoft.

Theatre In 2026, Daneshmand made his major London stage debut at the Almeida Theatre in the world premiere of Carmen Nasr's adaptation of Under the Shadow, directed by Nadia Latif. He played Mr Bijari and the university director, reimagining the film role he had originated a decade earlier.

Selected filmography Film +List of film appearances, with year, title, and role shown Year Title Role Reference(s) 2004 20 Fingers The Husband, The Man 2005 Munich Kamal Nasser 2006 A Snake's Tail Bijan, Kami, and Agha 2008 Body of Lies Amman Clinic Doctor 2009 Women Without Men Abbas 2012 From Tehran to London Ashkan 2016 Under the Shadow Director 2020 Pari Director- Ahmadi 2020 Infidel Dr. Hossein Tehrani 2021 Mister Mayfair Ali 2023 The Persian Version Ali Reza 2025 100 Nights of Hero Jerome's Father

Television +List of television appearances, with year, title, and role shown Year Title Role Reference(s) 2005 Casualty Dr. Hamid Guyrat 2005 Spooks (US title: MI5) Bashir Shalhoob 2007 Saddam's Tribe Journalist 2008 Special Forces Heroes Salim 2009 The Omid Djalili Show Appearance 2011 Page Eight Cambridge Don 2015 Suspects Jamal Khan 2019 Follow the Money Abbas 2019 Traitors Abu Selim 2020 EastEnders Dr Jamil 2022 Suspicion Masoud Ghorbani 2022 Tehran Dr. Kourosh Zamestani 2022 House of the Dragon The Priest 2023The Diplomat Rasoul Shahin 2024Brassic Mr. Calvo 2024Coronation Street Mr Akram

Radio +List of radio appearances, with year and radio station shown Title Year Radio station Westway2004-6 BBC World Service April's Fool 2009 BBC World Service The Fence 2009 BBC World Service Spit 2009 BBC World Service The Interview 2009 BBC Radio 4 Baghdad Burning 2009 BBC Radio 4 Amazing Grace 2010 BBC Radio 4 The Boy from Aleppo that Painted the War 2015 BBC Radio 4 The Weapon 2015 BBC Radio 4 Dan Dare 2017 B7 Media Fall of the Shah 2019 BBC World Service drama Central Intelligence 2024 BBC Radio 4

Theatre +List of theatre appearances, with year, title, role, and venue shown Year Title Role Venue Notes Reference(s) 2026 Under the Shadow Mr Bijari - Director Almeida Theatre World-premiere stage adaptation of Babak Anvari's feature film Under the Shadow

Awards and recognition 2004: Best Film Venezia Cinema Digitale at the Venice Film Festival, for 20 Fingers, produced by Daneshmand 2021: Best Actor at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival for The Bahramis.