The Most Famous

ACTORS from Iran

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This page contains a list of the greatest Iranian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 21 of which were born in Iran. This makes Iran the birth place of the 35th most number of Actors behind Israel, and Colombia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Iranian Actors of all time. This list of famous Iranian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Iranian Actors.

Photo of Shohreh Aghdashloo

1. Shohreh Aghdashloo (b. 1952)

With an HPI of 57.55, Shohreh Aghdashloo is the most famous Iranian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 44 different languages on wikipedia.

Shohreh Aghdashloo (Persian: شهره آغداشلو, pronounced [ʃohˈɾe ɒɢdɒʃˈluː]; née Vaziri-Tabar (وزیری‌تبار); born May 11, 1952) is an Iranian and 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 voices Roshan in Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Photo of Behrouz Vossoughi

2. Behrouz Vossoughi (b. 1938)

With an HPI of 53.03, Behrouz Vossoughi is the 2nd most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Khalil Vossoughi (Persian: خلیل وثوقی; born 11 March 1938) known professionally as Behrouz Vossoughi (بهروز وثوقی), is an Iranian actor. He has also worked in television, radio and theatre. His work has earned him recognition at several international film festivals, including for Best Actor at the International Film Festival of India in 1974 and San Francisco International Film Festival in 2006.

Photo of Shaun Toub

3. Shaun Toub (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 51.74, Shaun Toub is the 3rd most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Shaun Toub (born February 15, 1958) is an American actor. He has played the character Yinsen in Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 3 (2013); Farhad in Crash (2004); Rahim Khan in The Kite Runner (2007); Majid Javadi in the Showtime television series Homeland; and Faraz Kamali in the Apple TV+ Israeli series Tehran (2020).

Photo of Mohammad Ali Fardin

4. Mohammad Ali Fardin (1930 - 2000)

With an HPI of 51.29, Mohammad Ali Fardin is the 4th most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Mohammad-Ali Fardin (Persian: محمدعلی فردین, 4 February 1931 – 6 April 2000) was a prominent Iranian actor, film director and freestyle wrestler and was the runner-up in world wrestling. [1] He started his film career in the late 1950s and was a big star of Iranian cinema for two decades from the 1960s onwards. He was mostly famous for portraying masculinity and chivalry in Persian films. The undisputed box office champion of the era, Fardin captivated millions of viewers in his 25-year career. Between 1961 and 1976, he acted in the most popular movies of the year in Iranian cinema. He was active in wrestling and won a silver medal in the 1954 World Championship. He then started his first professional appearance in the cinema with the invitation of Ismail Kushan by playing a role in Cheshme Ab Hayat (1959). Soltane Ghalbha, Alley of Men, Ganj-e Qarun, Midnight Cry, Mr. 20th Century, The Secret of the Elder Tree, The Waiting Beach, Baba Shamal, The Rendezvous of Khashm, The Crookes (film), Ayyub, Barzakhi, Hell + Me, and Jabar the corporal escapes are some of his prominent films. Fardin's popularity as an actor is mainly due to the characters he has portrayed in his films.

Photo of Irán Eory

5. Irán Eory (1939 - 2002)

With an HPI of 50.27, Irán Eory is the 5th most famous Iranian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Irán Eory (Persian: ایران اِئوری; 21 October 1937 – 10 March 2002, born Elvira Teresa Eory) was an Iranian-born actress. She achieved fame in Mexico after moving to that country in the late 1960s.

Photo of Marshall Manesh

6. Marshall Manesh (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 49.33, Marshall Manesh is the 6th most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Marshall Manesh (born August 16, 1950) is an Iranian-American actor.

Photo of Homayoun Ershadi

7. Homayoun Ershadi (b. 1947)

With an HPI of 48.16, Homayoun Ershadi is the 7th most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Homayoun Ershadi (also spelled Homayon Ershadi, Persian: همایون ارشادی; born March 26, 1947) is an Iranian actor, known for his debut role in Taste of Cherry (1997), and several Iranian and other films since then, including Hollywood movies The Kite Runner and Zero Dark Thirty.

Photo of Golshifteh Farahani

8. Golshifteh Farahani (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 48.15, Golshifteh Farahani is the 8th most famous Iranian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

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.

Photo of Navid Negahban

9. Navid Negahban (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 47.24, Navid Negahban is the 9th most famous Iranian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Navid Negahban (Persian: نوید نگهبان) is an Iranian-American actor. He has appeared on 24, Homeland, Mistresses, and as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King in the second and third seasons of FX's Legion. He has also starred as the Sultan in the live-action remake of Aladdin.

Photo of Nazanin Boniadi

10. Nazanin Boniadi (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 44.88, Nazanin Boniadi is the 10th most famous Iranian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Nazanin Boniadi (; [nɑːzæˈniːn bonjɑːˈdiː]; born 1980) is a British actress and activist. Born in Tehran and raised in London, she attended university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role as Leyla Mir in the soap opera General Hospital (2007–2009) and its spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift (2007). Since then, Boniadi has played Nora in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother (2011), Fara Sherazi in the spy thriller series Homeland (2013–2014), Esther in the historical drama film Ben-Hur (2016), Clare Quayle in the sci-fi thriller series Counterpart (2017–2018), Zahra Kashani in the action thriller film Hotel Mumbai (2018), and Bronwyn in the first season of the fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022). She was an Amnesty International spokesperson from 2009 to 2015 and served as a board member for the Center for Human Rights in Iran from October 2015 until February 2021. Her focus has been on youth and women's rights.

People

Pantheon has 30 people classified as Iranian actors born between 1930 and 1988. Of these 30, 28 (93.33%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Iranian actors include Shohreh Aghdashloo, Behrouz Vossoughi, and Shaun Toub. The most famous deceased Iranian actors include Mohammad Ali Fardin, and Irán Eory. As of April 2024, 9 new Iranian actors have been added to Pantheon including Mohammad Ali Fardin, Irán Eory, and Marshall Manesh.

Living Iranian Actors

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Deceased Iranian Actors

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Newly Added Iranian Actors (2024)

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