Golshifteh Farahani Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Golshifteh Farahani
گلشیفته فراهانی
Farahani at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Rahavard Farahani (1983-07-10) 10 July 1983 (age 41) Tehran, Iran
Citizenship	Iran France
Alma mater	University of Applied Science and Technology
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Parent(s)	Behzad Farahani (father)
Relatives	Shaghayegh Farahani (sister)

Rahavard Farahani (Persian: رهاورد فراهانی), known as Golshifteh Farahani (گلشیفته فراهانی), was born on July 10, 1983. She is a talented actress from both Iran and France. You might know her from movies like Body of Lies (2008), Paterson (2016), Extraction (2020), and its sequel Extraction 2 (2023). She also stars in the TV series Invasion (2021–present).

Early Life and First Steps in Acting
Her Acting Career
Other Important Work
Personal Life
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and First Steps in Acting

Farahani in 2006

Golshifteh Farahani was born in Tehran, Iran. Her father, Behzad Farahani, is a well-known theatre director and actor. Her mother is Fahimeh Rahim Nia, and her sister, Shaghayegh Farahani, is also an actress.

Her father created the name Golshifteh, which means "loving flower." Her official birth name, Rahavard, means "gift of the road." She started learning music and playing the piano when she was just five years old. Later, she went to a music school in Tehran.

When she was 14, she got her first main role in a movie called The Pear Tree. For this role, she won an award for Best Actress at the 16th Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran. This was a great start to her acting journey!

Her Acting Career

Farahani starred in the drama About Elly, which won a top award at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

After appearing in the Hollywood movie Body of Lies, she was not allowed to return to Iran to work. This was because Iranian authorities saw her role as a collaboration with American ideas and because she appeared without a hijab (a head covering) in the film, which is against some rules in Iran. Since 2009, she has lived in France.

Since moving to Paris, she has worked with many famous directors. She was also a judge at the 63rd Locarno Film Festival. She starred in The Patience Stone (2012), which was liked by many critics.

In 2016, Farahani played the main character, Anna Karenina, on stage in Paris. She received great reviews for her performance. She also played the lead role of Laura in the American film Paterson, alongside actor Adam Driver. This movie was very popular and received excellent reviews.

In 2017, she appeared in the fantasy film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales as a sea witch named Shansa. In 2020, she played Nik Khan in the action movie Extraction and returned for the sequel Extraction 2 in 2023. She also has a main role in the TV series Invasion.

Other Important Work

Farahani cares a lot about the environment and works to help stop tuberculosis in Iran.

In Iran, she was part of a band called Kooch Neshin (Nomads). After leaving Iran, she worked with another Iranian musician, Mohsen Namjoo. They released an album together called Oy in 2009.

In 2014, she was ranked among the top beautiful people on the Independent Critics Beauty List.

Golshifteh Farahani has also shown her support for the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran. In October 2022, the British rock band Coldplay invited her to sing with them at their concert in Buenos Aires. She performed a song called Baraye, which became an important song for the protests. This concert was shown live in many movie theaters around the world.

Personal Life

Farahani at Berlinale 2023

Golshifteh Farahani moved to Ibiza, Spain, in 2017 after living in Paris for eight years. She now divides her time between Ibiza and Porto, Portugal. She had mentioned before that she wanted to leave France because of difficulties with the banking system there.