Roohangiz Saminejad (24 June 1916 – 3 April 1997) was an Iranian actress. She is famous in Iran for playing the heroine Golnar in ''

Lor Girl ''Lor Girl'' (; Romanized as ''Dokhtar-e-Lor''), also known as ''The Iran of Yesterday and the Iran of Today'', was the first sound film ever to be produced in the Persian language. In 1932, it was produced by Ardeshir Irani and Abdolhossein ...

'' (1934), which was the first film made in the Persian language, making her the first

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

film star A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor who is Celebrity, famous for their starring, or leading, roles in Film, movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names ...

in a talkie film. Roohangiz Saminejad was not a professional actress. She was the wife of an employee of the film company. She was discovered by

Abdolhossein Sepenta Abdolhossein Sepanta (, 4 June 1907 – 28 March 1969) was an Iranian film director and producer. He made the earliest sound films in the Persian language. He was also a writer and journalist and promoter of Liberalism, liberal politics. Biogr ...

, who had almost despaired of finding an actress with the right look for the film. Her strong

Kerman Kerman (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kerman County), Central District of Kerman County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. History Kerman was founded as a def ...

i accent required some changes to the script to account for it. She only made one more film, ''

Shirin and Farhad ''Khosrow and Shirin'' () is a romantic Epic poetry, epic poem by the Persians, Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). It is the second work of his set of five poems known collectively as Khamsa of Nizami, ''Khamsa''. It tells a highly el ...

'', also produced by Sepenta. According to Hamid Reza Sadr, she suffered social ostracism in the conservative culture of the time for becoming an actress. She also experienced sexual harassment from men when she went out in public. She had to change her name and lived in anonymity and seclusion.Hamid Reza Sadr, ''Iranian Cinema: A Political History'', IB Tauris, 2006, p.28.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saminejad, Roohangiz Iranian actresses 1916 births 1997 deaths Actresses from Tehran Iranian film actresses People from Kerman province 20th-century Iranian actresses