From Tehran to Hollywood
Last week, Shohreh Aghdashloo was nominated for the best-supporting-actress Oscar for her role in House of Sand and Fog as the wife of a former colonel in the shah's air force. The 51-year-old Iranian is happy to report that announcers said her name correctly: Sho-RAY OCK-dosh-loo. Winner of the New York Film Critics Circle Award for the part, Aghdashloo, who came to America in 1987, stands the best chance to upset favorite Renee Zellweger. Valentino will design Aghdashloo's dress, drawing on images from Persian paintings and rugs.
Growing up in Iran, you wanted to be an actress as a child?
When I was 8, I started mimicking members of my family. I could become my uncle so well that he asked my mother to ask me not to portray him. Poor thing, he was so upset.
In Iran, you couldn't act if you weren't married?
Here's how it works in Iran: Parents take you to your husband's home. There is no independence in between. In order to become an actress, I had to get married first.
You acted for five years in Iran, then fled right before the revolution?
I left 4 a.m. Feb. 28, 1978. Although young, I could see where the country was heading.
The Iranian media banned your name for 25 years--but no more?
Two weeks ago my mom called: "Oh my God, Shohreh. Not only your name but your face without veil is in our newspapers." I've heard one [newspaper editor] was interrogated for publishing my picture.
If you win, would you make a political statement?
No. As they say in Farsi, "Each word has a place to be said and a time to be said." -Ramin Setoodeh
This story appears in the February 9, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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