Shohreh Aghdashloo

Shohreh Aghdashloo (; , ; born Vaziri-Tabar, May 11, 1952) is an Iranian-American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Satellite Award, in addition to a nomination for an Academy Award.

Following numerous starring roles on the stage, she made her film debut in Chess of the Wind (1976). Her next two films The Report (1977) and Sooteh Delan (1977) garnered critical acclaim and established Aghdashloo as one of Iran's leading ladies, although the films were banned in Iran itself.

Aghdashloo moved to England during the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and then to the United States, subsequently becoming a U.S. citizen. After several years playing small roles in television and film, her performance in House of Sand and Fog (2003) brought her several film critics' awards and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other film appearances include The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand and The Nativity Story (both 2006), The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016).

In television, she is best known for her roles as Dina Araz in the fourth season of 24 and as Chrisjen Avasarala on The Expanse (2015–2022). For her role as Sajida Talfah in the HBO miniseries House of Saddam (2008), she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2013, she released her autobiography titled The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines. In 2021, she voiced Grayson in Netflix's series Arcane. In 2024, Aghdashloo voiced the unnamed dragon in the 2024 Netflix film Damsel. She also voiced Admiral Raan in Mass Effect 2 & 3, and Roshan in 2023's Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Early life Aghdashloo earned a bachelor's degree in international relations at Brunel University of London because of her interest in politics after having to leave her home country. She was already familiar with England, as her parents had taken her to London as a child. She then continued to pursue her acting career, which brought her to Los Angeles. She has since performed in a number of her husband Houshang Touzie's plays, successfully taking them to national and international stages, primarily in the Iranian diaspora. Though born to a Muslim family, she has stated that she is non-practicing.

Career

Aghdashloo first began working as a theatre actress at the age of 19, when she starred in a theatrical adaptation of the novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North (1973). Aghdashloo made her American film debut in 1989 in a starring role in Guests of Hotel Astoria. Her television debut came on September 25, 1990, in a guest role in the two-hour episode of the NBC television series Matlock, titled "Nowhere to Turn: A Matlock Mystery Movie". In the years that followed Aghdashloo appeared on screen sporadically, including in the widely panned Surviving Paradise (2000), written and directed by Kamshad Kooshan.

In 2001 Aghdashloo was cast opposite Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly in director Vadim Perelman's House of Sand and Fog (2003) for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Following this exposure Aghdashloo had a prominent recurring role in Season 4 of the Fox television series 24, playing Dina Araz, a terrorist undercover in Los Angeles as a well-to-do housewife and mother. In an interview with Time magazine, Aghdashloo stated that although she had previously resisted reinforcing the stereotype of Muslims as terrorists, the strength and complexity of the role convinced her to accept it. In the period that followed, Aghdashloo made guest appearances on several well-known television series, such as Will & Grace, ER and Grey's Anatomy. She also played supporting roles in films such as X-Men: The Last Stand as Dr. Kavita Rao, The Lake House, The Nativity Story as Elizabeth, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

In 2008, Aghdashloo served as an official festival judge at the second annual Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles, while she also played the lead character of Zahra Khanum in the film The Stoning of Soraya M., marking her first leading role in a feature-length American film. Film scholar Hamid Naficy criticized her role in the film as "discredit[ing] her vow not to play in films that stereotype Middle Easterners, including Iranians." In the same year, she also portrayed Sajida Talfah in the HBO original miniseries House of Saddam for which she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. Speaking to a crowd of over 1,400 people at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium on September 12, 2009, Aghdashloo, author Dr. Azar Nafisi, and Dr. Dwight Bashir, Associate Director for Policy at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, added their voices to those concerned about human rights in Iran and the persecution of Baháʼís in Iran. Aghdashloo's talk in particular was posted to YouTube. On October 9, 2010, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans awarded Aghdashloo their Career Achievement Award during its first annual gala.

Aghdashloo continues to act in films, such as The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Septembers of Shiraz and Star Trek Beyond; and on television, guest starring on series such as House, M.D., The Simpsons, Grimm, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and NCIS. She also voiced characters for the video games Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3, Destiny, Destiny 2, and Assassin's Creed Mirage; starred in the London revival of the play The House of Bernarda Alba at the Almeida Theatre as Bernarda Alba; and narrated the audiobook And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini.

From 2015 to 2022, Aghdashloo starred in Amazon Prime Video's television series The Expanse as UN Deputy Undersecretary of Executive Administration Chrisjen Avasarala, a "smart and passionate member of a political family legacy who has risen high in the ranks of Earth's governing body without once standing for election".

Works

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes1990 Matlock Saleslady Episode: "Nowhere to Turn"1993 Martin Malika Episode: "Jerome's in the House"1994 The Bold & The Beautiful Greesa Abineer Episode #18652001 Zereshk 2 episodes 2021 Arcane Enforcer Grayson Voice role, 4 episodes 2025 The Wheel of Time Elaida a'Roihan Season 3 Creature Commandos Madam Gyurov Voice role, episode 6 "Priyatel Skelet"

Video games Year Game Voice role Notes 2010 Mass Effect 2Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay The Expanse: A Telltale Series Chrisjen Avasarala 2024 Ara: History Untold Narrator

Audio Year Title Role Notes 2004 Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia Narrator Audiobook 2007 The Blood of Flowers Narrator Audiobook 2008 The Bible of Clay Narrator Audiobook And the Mountains Echoed Narrator Audiobook 2016 Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran Narrator Audiobook 2019–2020 The Two Princes Queen Attosa Audio drama

Theatre Year Title Role Playwright 1973 A Narrow Road to the Deep North Empress Jun Edward Bond 1975 Madame de Sade Reneé Marquise de Sade Yukio Mishima 2012 The House of Bernarda Alba Bernarda Alba Federico Garcia Lorca 2024 What Became of Us Q Shayan Lotfi

Other awards 2007: Arpa Career Achievement Award 2013: Noor Iranian Film Festival Achievement Award

Personal life In 1987, Aghdashloo married actor/playwright Houshang Touzie. They have a daughter, Tara Touzie, born in 1989.