Elnaz Shakerdoost (

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 ...

: الناز شاکردوست; born July 7, 1984) is an Iranian

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She studied at the Faculty of Architecture at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

while pursuing acting in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

. She received a nomination for the

Crystal Simorgh The Crystal Simorgh () is an award given by Fajr International Film Festival, Iran's major annual film festival. It is awarded in several categories of International Competition as well as Iranian Cinema Competition. The award's name comes from ...

for Best Actress at the

Fajr Film Festival Iran's annual Fajr International Film Festival (), or Fajr Film Festival (little: FIFF; ), has been held every February in Tehran since 1983. The festival is supervised by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance (Iran), Ministry of Culture ...

for her role in ''When the Wind Blows Through the Meadow'' in 2007 and won the Best Actress award at the

Hafez Awards Hafez Awards (Persian: جایزه حافظ) is an annual awards ceremony which honors achievements in Iranian cinema. The awards, first presented in 1997, are presented by Picture World Magazine (Aka. Donyaye Tassvir in Persian) which is why the ...

for her performance in ''Mubarak'' ''in'' 2016. Shakerdoost also won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress for her role in ''When the Moon Was Full'' in 2018 and was nominated for the same award for ''Pinto'', both directed by

Narges Abyar Narges Abyar (, also as Narges Ābyār; born 8 August 1970) is an Iranian film director, author, and screenwriter, best known for directing '' Track 143'', ''Breath'', and '' When the Moon Was Full''. The film Track 143 is adapted from Abyar's n ...

Early life

Elnaz Shakerdoost was born on July 7, 1984, 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 Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. She is the second child in her family, with an older brother and a younger sister. From a young age, Shakerdoost showed an interest in

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad range of sk ...

, performing in school and university theater productions. In 1997, she won the Best Actress award at a student edition of the Fajr Festival. She ranked 11th in the national university entrance exam for the arts and enrolled in the Theater program at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Tehran.

Controversies

Film ''Scandal'' ElNaz Shakerdoost, in an open letter addressed to the media, wrote about her role as Afsaneh in the film ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

'': "I truly lived the role of Afsaneh, and my soul will forever remain tied to this character. My only solace is the hope that the conscience of my homeland, Iran, awakens in time. The reason I took on this role was to echo the sigh of a girl who, after the price of bread rose, turned away from God in anger, left the breadline, and was forced into a life of vice. No one asked what would become of a home left without bread." Support for the LGBT Community Following the reported killing of Ali Fazeli Monfared on 4 May 2021, Shakerdoost expressed support for the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community on her Instagram account. She posted a photo of herself with rainbow-colored bangs, a symbol associated with the LGBT movement, accompanied by the following statement: A few days later, following a warning from the Tehran Prosecutor's Office, Shakerdoost was compelled to delete the Instagram post. During this period, media outlets such as

Fars News Agency The Fars News Agency is a news agency in Iran managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one of the three branches of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. While it describes itself as "Iran's leading independent news agency" ...

and

Mashregh News Mashregh News (, ) is a non-governmental news website based in Tehran, Iran. It has been described as "close to the security and intelligence organizations" but till now there have been no clear documents to prove claims. Mashregh News often breaks ...

, which are affiliated with the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is a multi-service primary branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces, Iranian Armed Forces. It was officially established by Ruhollah Khom ...

, played a significant role in orchestrating campaigns aimed at discrediting Shakerdoost. These outlets referred to her with derogatory labels, such as a "celebrity promoting corruption." Protest at the 2023 Fajr Film Festival In February 2023, while attending a screening of the film '' Without Body'' at the Kourosh Cinema Complex during the

, ElNaz Shakerdoost took the stage minutes before the film's conclusion to voice criticism of the festival's organizers.

Filmography

Film

Web

Theatre

Awards and nominations

References

*
Elnaz Shakerdoost in Soureh CinemaElnaz Shakerdoost in Filcin

External links

*
Elnaz Shakerdoost
On SourehCinema (in Persian) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shakerdoust, Elnaz Living people 1984 births Actresses from Tehran Iranian film actresses Iranian television actresses Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress winners Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch alumni