Leila Otadi () is an Iranian actress, poet and architecture.

Early life and education

Leila was born in Tehran/Shemrian. At age of 7, she had a chance to begin acting in films. However, her family and she thought school was more important for her at the time than acting. She was introduced to stage acting at the age of 18. Leila's film debut was "Black Eyes" by Iraj Ghaderi. Since then, she has starred in many films and recently became the highest paid actress in Iran. She speaks

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 ...

and Turkish fluently and plays tennis, enjoys horseback riding and many other sports. She earned her Associate degree in Interior Architecture from the

Tehran University of Art Iran University of Art (, ''Daneshgah-e Honar-e Iran'') (former "Tehran University of Art and formally Art Academic Complex (1979-1991)), is the largest art university in Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and al ...

Career

Her debut movie was ' The Black Eyes' (2002), directed by Iraj Qaderi. Otadi has participated in various TV series, including 'Truth Revealed' (2004), 'Tears and Smiles' (2008), 'Blood Money' (2010) and 'The Wound' (2014). She has also appeared in the movies ‘Willow Tree' (2004), 'Left-Handed' (2005), 'Invitation' (2008), 'Looking For Happiness' (2009), 'The Outcasts 3' (2010), 'Messed Up' (2011), ‘Laleh’ (2013) and 'The Straw Dogs' (2013). She has begun reciting poems since she was 17 years-old, and published her first book in 2014 under the title of 'In Heaven There is No Crow, Nor Scarecrow', which is a collection of poetry, in both Persian and English languages.

Political controversy

In November 2010 it was reported that she was going to appear in a political movie to demonstrate how

Neda Agha Soltan Neda Agha-Soltan ( – ''Nedā Āghā-Soltān''; 23 January 1983 – 20 June 2009) was an Iranian student of philosophy, who was participating in the 2009 presidential election protests with her music teacher, and was walking back to ...

was killed on the streets of

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. ...

in 2009. Since this movie had been funded by the

government of Iran The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran (), known simply as ''Nezam'' (), is the ruling State (polity), state and current political system in Iran, in power since the Iranian Revolution and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. Its Const ...

her decision sparked a flood of

negative emotion In psychology, negative affectivity (NA), or negative affect, is a personality variable that involves the experience of negative emotions and poor self-concept. Negative affectivity subsumes a variety of negative emotions, including anger, contem ...

s against her in

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 ...

and abroad. This was followed by a successful attack on her personal website that aimed to replace her pictures with some photos of the very last moments of

covered in blood. On 11 November, this was denied by

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" ...

Filmography

Television series

Film

References

External links

Leila Otadi
On SourehCinema (in Persian) *
عکس لیلا اوتادی روی بیلبوردهای عراق برای تبلیغ یک نوشیدنی
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Otadi, Leila 1983 births Living people Actresses from Tehran Iranian film actresses Iranian television actresses 21st-century Iranian actresses