Elnaaz Norouzi (; born 9 July 1992 or 1996) is an Iranian-German actress who mainly works in

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

. She is known for playing the role of ''Zoya Mirza'' in Indian crime thriller '' Sacred Games''. She made her

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

debut with

Gerard Butler Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor and film producer. After studying law, he turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as '' Mrs Brown'' (1997), the James Bond film ''Tomorrow Never ...

in ''

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

,'' a movie by

Ric Roman Waugh Ric Roman Waugh (born February 20, 1968) is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, and former stuntman. He is known for his work in ''Felon (film), Felon'' (2008), ''Snitch (film), Snitch'' (2013), and ''Shot Caller (film), Shot Call ...

Early life and education

Elnaaz Norouzi was born 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. ...

, Iran. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany. Norouzi has German citizenship. She started working as an actress when she was fourteen. She went to school, while weekend photoshoots became a daily occurrence for her. She travelled around Asia and Europe until she was 19. After graduating from the Goetheschule in Hanover, she decided to move to India.

Career

She started her career as a model at the age of 14 in Germany. In 2017, she made her debut in a Pakistani film '' Maan Jao Na'', playing the role of a young girl ''Raania''. She entered the Indian film industry by playing the role of ''Zoya'' in ''

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 ...

'' Bollywood web series '' Sacred Games''. Later, Norouzi worked in many movies and series, including '' Hello Charlie,

Chutzpah Chutzpah ( - ) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. A close English equivalent is sometimes " hubris". The word derives from the Hebrew ' (), meaning "insolence", "cheek" or "audacity". Thus, the original Yiddish word has a strongly ...

, Tehran 2, Abhay, Khido Khundi'' and ''

Made in Heaven ''Made In Heaven'' is the fifteenth and final studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 6 November 1995 by Parlophone Records in the United Kingdom and by Hollywood Records in the United States. It is the final studio album to ...

''. She performed a dance number in Rashtra Kavach Om and JugJugg Jeeyo, produced by

Karan Johar Karan Yash Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo, is an Indian filmmaker, producer and television personality who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several successful ac ...

. In July 2022, she made her singing debut with 'La La Love'. She marks special appearance in the Marathi song " Hridayi Vasant Phultana", an

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...

from the Malind Kavde's directorial 2022 film '' Takatak 2''.

Personal life

Elnaaz Norouzi was born in Iran. Her family shifted to Germany, where she grew up and spent her teenage years. In 2015, she found a new home in India. Norouzi can speak ''English'', ''German'', ''French,

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 ...

,'' ''Hindi, Punjabi'' and ''Urdu'', which has helped her to act in various film industries. In 2018, she accused director Vipul Shah for sexual harassment. During the

Mahsa Amini protests Civil unrest and protests against the Government of Iran, government of the Islamic Republic of Iran associated with the Death in custody, death in police custody of Death of Mahsa Amini#Victim, Mahsa Amini () began on 16 September 2022 and ca ...

in 2022, Norouzi came in support of the protests against the forced head covering. To support the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, which denounced the Government of Iran and the morality police, Norouzi posted a video of herself stripping down to being topless.

Filmography

Television

Music videos

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norouzi, Elnaaz 1992 births Living people Iranian film actresses German film actresses Iranian television actresses German television actresses German web series actresses German people of Iranian descent Actresses from Tehran Actresses from Hanover Iranian diaspora film people Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Urdu cinema Actresses in Punjabi cinema Actresses in Marathi cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Hindi television Iranian expatriates in India German expatriates in India Expatriate actresses in India 21st-century Iranian actresses 21st-century German actresses