Nazanin Boniadi | |
|---|---|
| نازنین بنیادی | |
.jpg) Boniadi in 2018 | |
| Born | 1980 (age 44–45) |
| Alma mater | University of California, Irvine (BS) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
| Website | nazaninboniadi |
Nazanin Boniadi (/ˈnɑːzəniːnˈboʊnjɑːdi/;[1][nɑːzæˈniːnbonjɑːˈdiː]; born 1980) is a British actress and activist. Born inTehran and raised in London, she attended university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role asLeyla Mir in the soap operaGeneral Hospital (2007–2009) and its spin-offGeneral Hospital: Night Shift (2007). Since then, Boniadi has played Nora in the sitcomHow I Met Your Mother (2011), Fara Sherazi in the spy thriller seriesHomeland (2013–2014),Esther in the historical drama filmBen-Hur (2016), Clare Quayle in the sci-fi thriller seriesCounterpart (2017–2018), Zahra Kashani in the action thriller filmHotel Mumbai (2018), and Bronwyn in the first season of the fantasy seriesThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022).
She was anAmnesty International spokesperson from 2009 to 2015 and served as a board member for theCenter for Human Rights in Iran from October 2015 until February 2021. Her focus has been onyouth andwomen's rights.
Nazanin Boniadi was born in 1980 inTehran in the aftermath of theIranian Revolution. Less than a month after her birth, she and her parents left Iran and applied to becomepolitical refugees in London.[2][3][4]
Boniadi attended anindependent school inHampstead, London.[5] As a young girl, she playedviolin and performedballet.[6][7]
Boniadi earned abachelor's degree with honours, inbiological sciences from theUniversity of California, Irvine (UCI). At UCI, she won the Chang Pin-Chun Undergraduate Research Award formolecular research involvingcancer treatment and hearttransplant rejection. Boniadi was also assistant editor-in-chief ofMedTimes, UCI's undergraduate medical newspaper.[8]
Boniadi changed her career path from science and started pursuing acting in 2006.[citation needed] In 2009, she studied a contemporary drama short course at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[9]
Boniadi's first major acting role was asLeyla Mir on the daytime dramaGeneral Hospital and its SOAPnet spin-off seriesGeneral Hospital: Night Shift, making her the first contract actor to play a Middle Eastern character in American daytime television history.[citation needed] She is also the first actress born inIran to ever be on contract on an Americansoap opera.[10]
Boniadi played supporting roles in several majorHollywood film productions, such asCharlie Wilson's War,Iron Man, andThe Next Three Days.[citation needed]
She played Nora, a love interest forNeil Patrick Harris's characterBarney Stinson, on the sixth season of the hitCBS showHow I Met Your Mother in 2011.[11] She reprised this role during the show's seventh and ninth seasons.[citation needed]
In August 2012, Boniadi starred oppositeGeorge Clooney in aNespresso TV ad.[12][13][14]
In May 2013, Boniadi joined the cast ofHomeland season 3 asCIA analyst Fara Sherazi,[15] and was promoted to a series regular for the show's fourth season.[16]
Boniadi also appeared in an eight-episode arc on season 3 ofScandal as antagonist Adnan Salif.[17] She portrayedEsther, the title character's wife, in the2016 remake ofBen-Hur.[18][19]
She narrated the soundtrack to the 2014 Iranian documentary film,To Light a Candle, made byMaziar Bahari and focusing on the state-sanctionedpersecution of Baháʼís inIran.[20]
She starred withDev Patel andArmie Hammer in the 2018 feature filmHotel Mumbai, a dramatisation of the2008 Mumbai attacks,[3] as British-Iranian heiress Zahra Kashani.[21]
From 2018 to 2019, Boniadi received critical acclaim for portraying the series regular role of Clare Quayle in theStarz espionage dramaCounterpart.[3][22][23]
In early 2020, it was revealed that Boniadi had been cast in an undisclosed role inThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power onAmazon Prime.[24] In February 2022, it was announced she would be playing the character of Bronwyn, described as a single mother and healer.[25] Boniadi stepped aside from the role prior to the show filming its second season; the role was not recast. Despite initial reporting, she clarified that the choice was unrelated to her decision to prioritize her advocacy.[26]
In 2024, Boniadi joined the cast of the independent thriller,The Saviors, alongsideAdam Scott,Danielle Deadwyler,Greg Kinnear,Ron Perlman,Colleen Camp,Kate Berlant, andTheo Rossi.[27]
Boniadi has been involved inhuman rights activism, with a focus onyouth andwomen's rights. She was a spokesperson forAmnesty International USA (AIUSA), with a focus on the unjust conviction and treatment of Iranian youth, women, andprisoners of conscience, from 2009 until 2015.[28][29] She has her own official blog page on the AIUSA website[30] and continues to partner with them. In 2020, she was appointed as an ambassador forAmnesty International UK, with a focus on women and Iran.[31]
In 2009, Boniadi provided a voiceover to AIUSA's "Power of Words" public service announcement introduced byMorgan Freeman;[32] campaigned with the organization for theInternational Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA);[33] served as a panelist andemcee for events related to Iranian rights; and spearheaded The Neda Project with AIUSA.[34]
In December 2010, she initiated an Amnesty International petition for Iranian film directorsJafar Panahi andMohammad Rasoulof, who had been convicted of "propaganda against the state". The petition generated more than 21,000 signatures, including those of prominent Hollywood directors and actors.[35] On 8 June 2011, she joined a delegation, led by Hollywood directorPaul Haggis and AIUSA Executive DirectorLarry Cox, to deliver the petition to the Iran Mission to theUnited Nations in New York.[36][37]
On 3 June 2011, Boniadi joinedSarah Shourd in a rollinghunger strike and wrote an article in support of theFree the Hikers campaign, pertaining to the imprisonment ofShane Bauer andJosh Fattal in Iran.[38]
On 9 April 2012, Boniadi returned to her alma mater, UCI, in support of theEducation Under Fire campaign, calling for an end to state-sanctioned discrimination andpersecution of Baháʼís in Iran.[39]
Boniadi delivered the keynote closing remarks at the 2012 XX Factor, Amnesty International USA's annualtown hall meeting onwomen's rights, inWashington, D.C.[40]
In December 2012, Boniadi worked withRoxana Saberi to launch an Amnesty International petition and campaign to free wrongfully imprisoned filmmaker Behrouz Ghobadi, brother of acclaimed filmmakerBahman Ghobadi, in Iran.[41] The petition included signatures from prominent Hollywood directors and actors, as well as major film industry organizations and festivals.[41][42][43][44] On 22 January 2013, Amnesty International announced that Behrouz Ghobadi had been released on bail from prison in Iran.[45]
She was a keynote speaker at CongresswomanEddie Bernice Johnson's 13th annual "A World of Women for World Peace" conference inDallas,Texas in May 2013.[46]
She has writtenop-eds about human rights for media outlets such asCNN,[47]The Washington Post,[48] andDefense One.[49]
In 2014, Boniadi was selected as a term member by the think tankCouncil on Foreign Relations (CFR).[20] She was subsequently selected as a lifetime member of the CFR in 2020.[50]
She served as a member of the board of directors of theCenter for Human Rights in Iran from October 2015 until February 2021.[20]
In April 2019, she was interviewed byCBC News Network anchorNatasha Fatah about the fate ofhuman rights lawyer,Nasrin Sotoudeh, recently sentenced for up to 38 years in Tehran.[51] She has also appeared onBBC World News[52] andCNN International.[53]
In September 2022, she became active during theMahsa Amini protests, and urged foreign governments to aid the protesters.[54] On 14 October 2022, she met withKamala Harris, thenVice President of the United States, following the protests in Iran.[55][56] In an informal session ofUnited Nations Security Council in November 2022, she denounced as a "myth" the idea that thehijab was a part of Iran's culture.[57]
In an interview withABC News in Australia in June 2023, she praised Australia for helping to remove the Islamic Republic from theUN Commission on the Status of Women. Boniadi asked that theAustralian Government designate theIRGC as a terror organisation and encourage the UK, Europe, Canada to do the same. She questioned China's intentions in playing the role of mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia, warning of the danger of "autocracies taking that top spot in the world". Commenting on theGaza war in October 2023, Boniadi commented onX: "the Islamic Republic's strategic support of Hamas has diverted attention away from its ongoing crimes against the Iranian people".[58]
Boniadi is fluent in English andPersian.[59] Her nationality is British.[60][61]
She was living in Los Angeles, California, U.S., in 2017.[5]
Her parents fled Iran in her infancy. Since then, Boniadi has only visited Iran once, during her teenage years.[3]
In the mid-2000s, she was a dedicatedScientologist. Her mother had also been a Scientologist.[62]
In late 2004 to early 2005, she allegedly had a brief relationship with actorTom Cruise. According to claims in the documentaryGoing Clear, her acquaintance with Cruise was not accidental, and theChurch of Scientology prepared and planted her for this role wanting to ensure his commitment to the church after he had drifted away from it during his marriage toNicole Kidman.[63] The church alsovetted her along with dozens of other women as a potential wife for Cruise, but she was not selected.[64][65] In October 2004, Boniadi was volunteering for theOffice of Special Affairs in Los Angeles when she was told by Church official Greg Wilhere that she had been selected for a special project. Boniadi was told that herdental braces had to be removed and that her red hair highlights had to be corrected; she was also encouraged to end her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. After being flown to New York by the church, Boniadi learned that her project was to become a suitable girlfriend for Cruise.[66]
According to Boniadi, Cruise initially overwhelmed her with the intensity of his affection but she was isolated from her family and the two of them were rarely alone, always surrounded by an entourage of Scientologists. Allegedly, he became cool and withdrawn after something she said to Scientology co-founderDavid Miscavige was misconstrued as an insult. She was later asked to leave and move into theCelebrity Centre.[67] After their relationship ended in January 2005, Boniadi confessed her devastation to a friend and fellow church member. She was allegedly punished by having to dig ditches at midnight and scrub floor tiles.[68] The Church of Scientology denied that any such project existed or that David Miscavige has any involvement in Cruise's personal life.[67] Boniadi left the Church of Scientology soon afterward.[69]
On 10 May 2017, American journalistTony Ortega reported onFBI testimony that Boniadi had given in January 2010 regarding her relationship with Cruise through the Church of Scientology.[68] Boniadi's testimony describes how the Church's Office of Special Affairs selected her to be Cruise's girlfriend.[64]
In 2017, she tweeted congratulations toLeah Remini andMike Rinder on their seriesScientology and the Aftermath winning anEmmy Award.[70]
In a later interview with theLos Angeles Times, Boniadi described her role inCounterpart as cathartic and therapeutic, saying "sometimes there are personal traumas that you don't ever talk about publicly but you pour it into your work". She continued: "this idea of shedding indoctrination and finding out who you are for me is a strong one. It has been extremely therapeutic for me to be able to put it out into the world through my art as opposed to openly discussing it."[3]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Kal: Yesterday & Tomorrow | Simmi | Short film |
| 2007 | Gameface | Taylor | |
| 2008 | Charlie Wilson's War | Afghan Refugee Woman | Uncredited |
| Iron Man | Amira Ahmed | ||
| 2009 | Diplomacy | Persian Interpreter | Short film |
| 2010 | The Next Three Days | Woman with kid | |
| 2012 | Shirin in Love | Shirin | |
| 2015 | Desert Dancer | Parisa Ghaffarian | |
| 2016 | Ben-Hur | Esther | |
| Passengers | Wake-Up Hologram | Uncredited | |
| 2018 | Hotel Mumbai | Zahra Kashani | |
| 2019 | Bombshell | Rudi Bakhtiar | |
| TBA | The Saviors | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | The Game | Josie | 2 episodes |
| General Hospital: Night Shift | Leyla Mir | 13 episodes | |
| 2007–2009 | General Hospital | Leyla Mir | 119 episodes |
| 2010 | The Deep End | Heather Mosson | Episode: "To Have and to Hold" |
| 24 | Blonde Woman | 2 episodes | |
| Hawthorne | Aneesa Amara | Episode: "Final Curtain" | |
| 2011 | Suits | Lauren Pearl | Episode: "Errors and Omissions" |
| 2011, 2014 | How I Met Your Mother | Nora | 10 episodes |
| 2012 | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Nurse Lauren | Episode: "Seeing Red" |
| Best Friends Forever | Naya | 2 episodes | |
| 2013 | Go On | Hannah | Episode: "Gooooaaaallll Doll!" |
| Grey's Anatomy | Amrita | Episode: "The Face of Change" | |
| 2013–2014 | Homeland | Fara Sherazi | 12 episodes |
| 2014 | Scandal | Adnan Salif | 7 episodes |
| 2017–2018 | Counterpart | Clare Quayle | 17 episodes |
| 2022 | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Bronwyn[25] | Main role (Season 1) |
I took the Contemporary Drama course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London in 2009
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| National | |
