Navid Akhavan (; born 9 June 1980 in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

) is an Iranian-German actor and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He is also known as Navid Navid. Navid was born in

Teheran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District. With a population of around 9.8 million in the city as of 2025, ...

, Iran. Due to the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

, Navid, aged 4, escaped with his family from his native country. After briefly living in the United States, they immigrated to Germany in 1985. Navid grew up speaking English, German, and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Due to his father's profession, an event manager, he was introduced to the stage and audience from an early age. He performed on stage for the first time when he was eight years old. Until the age of 16, he was the opening act of dozens of concerts. After he graduated in 2001 from the "Schauspiel Zentrum", a school for performing arts in Cologne, Germany, he started to work as an actor in film, TV and theatre. He played the role of

Lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' and

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...

in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' at the

Altonaer Theater The Altonaer Theater is a theater in Hamburg, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixte ...

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 2003, his first leading role in a film earned him a nomination at the

Munich Film Festival Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in the category "Best Actor in a Leading Role" for his portrayal of Yunes in Elmar Fischer's ''Fremder Freund''. In the same year, the film won the acclaimed First Steps Award, the Digital Visions Award, as well as the Audience Award at the Filmz Mainz Film Festival. His other leading roles include Mohsen in '' Salami Aleikum'' and Jamal in ''45 Minutes to Ramallah'' (both comedies directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi), as well as the drama '' For a Moment, Freedom'' (written and directed by Arash T. Riahi), which won 30 awards at international film festivals and was the Austrian entry for the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

in 2009. Navid has worked on films in German, Persian and English. In the Hollywood production '' Septembers of Shiraz'', which can be seen on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, he plays the part of Morteza next to

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Polish pianist Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's war drama '' The Pianist'' (2002) becoming the youngest acto ...

and

Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...

. From 2005 until 2010, Navid and his brother Omid produced Persian pop music as "Navid & Omid". They released two studio albums (''Faryad'' & ''Kolli Sefaresh''), as well as several music videos during that time, all of which Navid wrote and directed. Navid has also been working as a music video director for other singers. He has won awards at international film festivals with the music videos ''November's Fall'' and ''Habs'', which he made for the Iranian legendary singer Ebi. The acclaimed music video ''Behesht'', which Navid wrote and directed for the Iranian superstar

Googoosh Faegheh Atashin (; born 5 May 1950), known professionally as Googoosh (, ), is an Iranian singer and former actress. Regarded as a pop icon, she is one of the most popular and prolific entertainers in Iran, and her career has spanned over six de ...

, gathered international attention since it was the first time a homosexual love story was portrayed in an Iranian music video. Some of the international articles include the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The Guardian'', ''Die Welt'', ''The World'', ''De Volkskrant'', ''The Times of Israel'', ''Huffpost'' and Euronews. Navid is also a guest teacher and gives workshops on how to direct actors and produce music videos at the ''SAE Berlin''. In 2020, he narrated Dalia Sofer's novel ''Man of My Time'' for

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

Filmography (selection)

** 2001: ** 2001: Happy Halloween ** 2002: Drei Frauen, ein Plan und die ganz große Kohle ** 2003:

SK Kölsch ''SK Kölsch'' was German television series produced in Cologne, which was broadcast on Sat.1 from 1999 to 2006. See also *List of German television series The following is a list of television series produced in Germany: Current Drama * ...

** 2003: Fremder Freund ** 2003:

Wolffs Revier is a German crime drama television series broadcast from 1992 to 2006, about chief inspector of police Andreas Wolff, who works in Berlin's homicide department. The series, which won a Grimme-Preis award, consists of 173 episodes in 13 season ...

** 2004: SOKO Köln ** 2005: Playa del futuro ** 2005:

Fremde Haut ''Fremde Haut'' is a 2005 German film. It was directed by Angelina Maccarone and stars Jasmin Tabatabai, Anneke Kim Sarnau, and Navíd Akhavan. Its English title is ''Unveiled''. Background Writers Maccarone and Judith Kaufmann conceived the id ...

** 2005:

König von Kreuzberg ''König von Kreuzberg'' is a German television series. See also *List of German television series The following is a list of television series produced in Germany: Current Drama * ''4 Blocks (TV series), 4 Blocks'' (TNT Serie, 2017–201 ...

** 2006:

SOKO Kitzbühel ''SOKO Kitzbühel '' is an Austrian television series produced by ORF (broadcaster), ORF in collaboration with the German network ZDF. It is the third spin-off of the German crime series ''SOKO 5113'' (''SOKO München'' since 2015), launched i ...

** 2007:

Großstadtrevier ''Großstadtrevier'' (roughly ''(Big) City Police Station'') is a German television series, broadcast on Germany's Das Erste of the ARD. First aired on 16 December 1986, the show is one of the most popular television series in the country. It fo ...

(Episode ''Rufmord'') ** 2008: In letzter Sekunde ** 2008: Ein Augenblick Freiheit ** 2009: Women Without Men – Zanan-e Bedun-e Mardan ** 2009: Salami Aleikum ** 2010:

Der Kriminalist ' is a German television series produced by Monaco Film Hamburg, subsidiary of Odeon Film. Directors during the first season were Sherry Hormann and , during the second: Thomas Jahn, Jobst Oetzmann and Torsten C. Fischer. List of episodes ...

(Episode ''Schuld und Sühne'') ** 2012: Mordkommission Istanbul (Episode ''Blutsbande'') ** 2012:

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...

(Episode ''Ein neues Leben'') ** 2012: Pastewka (Episode ''Die Lesung'') ** 2013: 45 Minuten bis Ramallah ** 2013: ** 2014: Die Mamba ** 2015: Septembers of Shiraz ** 2017: ** 2018:

Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the RAF and is still used by the Royal Saudi ...

(Episode ''Hooray for Bollywood'') ** 2018:

(Episode ''Borowski und das Haus der Geister'') ** 2019: Die Spezialisten - Im Namen der Opfer ** 2020: Professor T. ** 2020: Trespassers ** 2021: Nachtschicht

Awards

* Nomination at the Filmfest Munich for his performance in Fremder Freund ( Best Actor in a Leading Role) *Audience Award at the UMFF for the music video Habs

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Akhavan, Navid Living people 1980 births German male television actors Iranian male television actors German male film actors Iranian male film actors Iranian emigrants to Germany Male actors from Tehran 21st-century German male actors