Famouse Persians

2008-07-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ahsha Safai

"Iranian Americans have excelled in business, engineering and academia for decades," says Ahsha Safai between gulps of bottled water at a Mission District restaurant. "But there was always an aversion to politics. Unfortunately, it was ignored at our peril. When the Patriot Act, 'special registrations' and student-visa restrictions were legislated after 9/11, we didn't have a voice. It was a wakeup call."

Iranian Americans were wide awake by the time Safai put some in a room with Gavin Newsom in 2003. He organized the meeting as deputy director of field operations for Newsom's first mayoral campaign. "We had a good turnout of 150 and Gavin continues to meet with our community at least once a year," he says. "More and more of us are becoming politically active." He notes that Bay Area Iranian Americans have hosted fundraisers for Hillary Clinton, whom he met while working for a year in the Clinton White House.

Newsom and the Clintons are not the only political heavyweights on his resume. His Marin County wedding last summer to Boalt Hall law student Yadira Taylor -- they live in the Excelsior district -- was attended by his mentors at Northeastern, MIT and the White House: Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor, and Loretta Avent, President Clinton's deputy assistant of intergovernmental affairs. Safai, 34, has in turn mentored several Iranian Americans in the three San Francisco mayor's office positions he's held.

Safai laughs when he calls himself a Texan Iranian, but it's true. His mother, Marsha McDonald, met Ahsha's father, Ata Safai, when they were college students in Texas, then moved with him to Tehran. They raised Ahsha there until he was 5, when his mother moved him to the safety of Cambridge, Mass., during the chaos of the shah's overthrow in 1979. His father still lives in Iran. "I went back two years ago to visit him," Safai says. "My old house was replaced by apartments, but it's still the big city I remembered."

Since arriving in San Francisco straight out of MIT, Safai has worked for Mayors Willie Brown and Newsom on a variety of projects: opening a teen center at the Sunnydale housing projects, pushing immigrant rights legislation through the Board of Supervisors, overseeing grants to revitalize the Fillmore district, and now hiring young, low-income city residents to clean up litter and graffiti in the city's busiest commercial corridors as a community programs liaison. None of it is glamorous work, but he says it's gratifying because the problems are readily fixable -- unlike, for example, U.S.-Iran relations.

"Americans have a distorted image of Iran," he says. "They know about the hostage crisis and Islamic fundamentalism, but do they know that Persia was the first country to codify human rights or that it has the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel? They think of Iranians as terrorists, but none of the 9/11 terrorists were from Iran and there were candlelight vigils in Tehran the night after 9/11. As an Iranian American, I've had to live with the two governments being at odds since I can remember.""San Francisco Chronicle"

2008-07-31T06:03:00.000-07:00

Fred Nazem is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist.
In the late 1970s he founded Nazem and Company, which has managed seven private venture capital funds and a joint venture, the Transatlantic Venture Fund in partnership with Banque National de Paris. Over the past four decades he has started, financed or guided more than three hundred cutting edge enterprises that have defined new fields in high technology and healthcare. Some of these companies have become multi-billion dollar enterprises. The most recent venture Mr. Nazem has founded is Flagship Global Healthcare, where he is Chairman and CEO. Flagship is a membership-based healthcare delivery system that provides its members with priority access to renowned physician specialists globally.

Mr. Nazem is also known for his work as a turnaround specialist. As Chairman of Oxford Health Plans, he led the reorganization and successful turnaround of the company when it experienced operational and financial difficulties in 1997. Oxford was sold to United Health Group in 2004 for $5 billion. Mr. Nazem also led the turnaround of one of ’s most prominent family fortunes, taking it from near bankruptcy to being highly ranked on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the world. He has been managing private wealth for three decades and currently is the Managing Partner of Hedgeworth Capital, a private hedge fund he founded in 2003.

2008-07-31T06:01:00.000-07:00

Noosheen Hashemi

Noosheen Hashemi is a philanthropist with a passion for entrepreneurship and economic development. Since 2003, she has led her family’s charitable giving through The H.A.N.D. Foundation which has committed significant resources to research and capacity building. She is co-founder and the Chairman of PARSA Community Foundation.

Between 1985 and 1995, she worked at Oracle where she took active part in software’s meteoric rise as an industry. She was appointed Director of Finance and Administration in 1988 and named VP in 1990. In 1991, she won Oracle's "Against All Odds Award" for her role in the company's financial turnaround. After becoming a Stanford Sloan Fellow in 1993, she became VP of Marketing and Business Development for Oracle’s Worldwide Education business. In 1996, Ms. Hashemi joined Quote.com, a profitable finance portal, where she was VP of Sales and Marketing.

Antonio Esfandiari

2008-04-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Antonio Esfandiari was born on December 8, 1978 in Iran and moved to San Francisco in 1988, where he still lives. He's the youngest player to win a televised World Poker Tour event, and also the youngest poker player to win a million dollar prize in a tournament. Before becoming a professional poker player, he was a professional magician.

Antonio Esfandiari's Poker Nickname:
“The Magician”

Elie Tahari

2008-04-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

Elie Tahari is a designer of woman's clothing. He has evolved a $500 million business, with a presence on five continents, in more than 600 US stores and in five free-standing boutiques.

Tahari grew up in an Israeli orphanage and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s with little money. After his arrival in New York, he was desperate for work and went from showroom to showroom in looking for employment. Things turned around for him when he learned about retail. His position selling clothing from a boutique was an introduction to his first love – designing women’s fashion. Tahari’s determination to learn and his auspicious attraction to New York’s famed club scene, inspired the designs that propelled him into the ‘who’s who’ of fashion.

Elie Tahari survived the ‘70s and stayed focused on fashion. His designs were so well received, he was one of the first fashion designers who opened a boutique on Madison Avenue in 1974.

Parlaying his keen ability to predict what a woman wants from fashion before she even knows it, he turned his attentions in the 80’s to the tailored suit — a design effort that redefined a decade. Today, Elie Tahari continues to empower women with designs inspired by his belief that smart women can look sexy.

Even with these accomplishments, Elie Tahari felt something was missing. Just after he blew out the candles on his 46th birthday he met his wife. In his own words, “Rory is my greatest love, and therefore, my greatest inspiration.” In a truly collaborative effort, this unique husband-wife team has tripled the size of the company in the last five years, injecting the brand with new meaning and vigor with the launch of the Elie Tahari Collection.

Women have been drawn to Elie Tahari designs for over three decades, and this devoted following continues to revel in the feminine embellishments, sensual fabrics, and subtle textures that have come to define the Elie Tahari collection.

In the United States, Tahari has boutiques in New York, Boston, East Hampton, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. In the 2007 movie Enchanted, two characters are shown shopping at Tahari's New York City store.

New York fashion mogul Elie Tahari, is one of the many very successful individuals in the world hailing from an Iranian Jewish heritage. Even though he was born in Israel and came to New York 35 years ago without a penny to his name, Tahari now 55, commands a $500-million sportswear empire. In a recent interview with the online fashion magazine, Portfolio.com he revealed the reasoning behind his family leaving Iran in the 1950's after the late Shah of Iran was temporarily deposed.

Mohsen Moazami

2008-04-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

Vice President, Internet Business Solutions Group
Cisco Systems, Inc.

Jimmy Delshad

2008-04-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Jamshid "Jimmy" Delshad is an Iranian-American politician from the state of California. On March 21, 2007 he was elected as Mayor of Beverly Hills, California [1]. Upon election, Delshad became the first Iranian-American to ever hold public office in Beverly Hills and the first person born in a Muslim country to hold major political position in the United States. He is an alumnus of California State University, Northridge.

Sina Tamaddon

2008-04-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Computer. Sina reports directly to Steve Jobs.

Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President, Applications (age 48), joined Apple in September 1997. Tamaddon has also served with the company in the position of Senior Vice President, Worldwide Service and Support, and Vice President and General Manager, Newton Group. Before joining the Company, Tamaddon held the position of Vice President, Europe with NeXT from September 1996 through March 1997. From August 1994 to August 1996, Tamaddon held the position of Vice President, Professional Services with NeXT.

Fariborz Sahba

2008-04-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Born 1948) is an Iranian Bahá'í architect, now living in Canada.

He has a Masters degree from Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran. Among his designs are:

Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi, India, also known as the Lotus Temple.

The Terraces of the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel, in Haifa, Israel.

Farzad Nazem

2008-04-14T17:20:00.000-07:00

Born in 1962 also known as Zod Nazem, was Yahoo!'s chief technology officer and one of its longest-serving executives. He announced that he would leave the company on June 8, 2007 after 11 years at Yahoo. He will receive a golden parachute worth about $6.9 million. He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from the California Polytechnic State University.

Adrian Pasdar

2008-04-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Adrian Pasdar was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, but at the age of 2, his father , His father, Homayoun Pasdar, was a cardiac surgeon who was born in Iran and moved to the United States, working as a surgeon near Philadelphia. His mother, Rosemarie Sbresny, was born in Königsberg, Germany, and worked as a nurse before becoming an English teacher in France.
In high school, he excelled at football, eventually leading to a football scholarship at the University of Florida in 1983. Football may have been a promising future, had it not been for a terrible accident during his freshman year that left his face scarred and his legs badly injured. A very driven Adrian finished his freshman year in a wheelchair, doing intensive physical therapy and turning his attention to campus stage productions and redicovering a childhood interest in writing and acting. No longer able to play football, he dropped out of school and returned home, taking a job with a theater group People's Light and Theatre Company. Here he worked on sound and lighting and also did set construction. One day, while constructing a set, he cut off the end of his left thumb. Adrian, having the ability to turn tragedy into triumph, used his medical compensation to pay for attendance at the famous "Lee Strasberg Theater Institute". At the age of 19, he auditioned for a role in Top Gun (1986). Director Tony Scott was so impressed that he wrote the part of "Chipper" just for him. This led to bigger roles in Solarbabies (1986), Streets of Gold (1986), and Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 cult vampire movie Near Dark (1987), with Adrian in the lead role of Caleb Colton. Other major roles include Vital Signs (1990). Adrian has always been an actor ahead of his time, opting for roles in independent and cable movies long before they were considered fashionable for feature actors to do. In 1992, feeling completely out-of-touch with reality, Adrian left Hollywood and returned to New York. He worked as a cashier for room and board, while taking the occasional small part, such as Frankie in 'Brian De Palma''s Carlito's Way (1993). Another major break came in 1995, when Adrian was cast as the title character on the short-lived Fox series _Profit (1996)_. He continues to act in supporting roles and has now added directing to his already impressive body of work. He wrote and directed the short film Beyond Belief and also directed a feature film Cement (1999).

Farzad Bonyadi

2008-04-14T15:51:00.000-07:00

Farzad "Freddy" Bonyadi (born 1959 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian professional poker player based in Aliso Viejo, California who has won 3 World Series of Poker bracelets.

Bonyadi moved from Iran to America in 1983, where he worked as an executive host in the LA Commerce Casino and as a shift manager at Hollywood Park Casino.

Bonyadi first came to the attention of poker players when he won the $2,000 limit hold'em event at the 1998 World Series of Poker (WSOP), defeating a final table that included Mimi Tran and John Cernuto on the way to a $429,940 first prize. In the same WSOP, he also made the final table of the $1,500 seven card stud split event, and placed in the money in the $10,000 no limit hold'em main event.

Bonyadi also made a final table in the second season World Poker Tour (WPT) Legends of Poker event, where he finished 5th at a final table featuring Mel Judah, Paul Phillips, T.J. Cloutier, Chip Jett and Phil Laak.

Bonyadi has also won WSOP bracelets in the 2004 $1,000 deuce to seven triple draw and the 2005 no limit hold'em tournaments.

As of 2007, his total live tournament winnings exceed $2,300,000.

Bonyadi is an exclusive professional poker player at Full Tilt Poker.

Cyrus Golkar

2008-04-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

Cyrus Golkar currently has global responsibility for Sun's Business Intelligence (BI) and database business. Cyrus is also an information technology professional specialized in Enterprise Business Solutions. He has been an engineer, entrepreneur and a business professional with a unique combination of business and technical expertise, and 18 years of engineering and marketing experience in the information technology market. His professional expertise includes: Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Warehousing (DW), Knowledge Management (KM), Collaboration, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and database software solutions.

Prior to Sun Microsystems, Cyrus was a senior director of sales and marketing at Intraspect Software, a web-based collaborative software for business-to-business communities. Cyrus has also held technical and management positions at GE Medical, Siemens, and Rockwell International.

Bijan Pakzad

2008-04-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Generally known simply as Bijan(born 1944) is a well-known Iranian American designer of menswear and fragrances.

Born in Tehran, Iran, Bijan immigrated to the United States in 1973. His exclusive boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was established in 1976 and can be visited by "appointment only". It has been described as "the most expensive store in the world".

Bijan dresses some of the world's most powerful men: President of the United States George W. Bush, Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, American actor Tom Cruise, German TV host Thomas Gottschalk, British actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, U.S. Senator John Kerry, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, Paul Allen, Jay Leno, Giorgio Armani, Usher, Carlos Slim Helu, Steve Wynn, Oscar De La Renta, Tom Ford, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan have all been dressed by Bijan.

Atoosa Rubenstein

2008-04-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Born Atoosa Behnegar,in Tehran, Iran in 1972.She is the editor of Seventeen Magazine, one of America's most popular teen magazines.Her father, Mansoor Behnegar, was a Colonel in the Iranian Air ForceGrew up in Queens and Long Island.Grew up in a very traditional Muslim household and ended up marrying a guy who is an independent commodities trader on the New York Cotton Exchange.

Leila Vaziri

2008-04-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Born June 6, 1985, is an Iranian-American swimmer. She was the world record holder in the 50 m women's backstroke, set on March 28, 2007 in the 2007 World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne, with a time of 28.16 seconds, until her time was bettered by Li Yang on October 19, 2007.^[3] She equalled the record in the finals race the day after.

She has an Iranian father and a mother of German ancestry.

Vaziri completed her collegiate swimming career at Indiana University. The 2007 NCAA bronze medalist in the 100-yard backstroke, Vaziri had already left an indelible mark in IU history prior to her World Championship heroics. Vaziri earned 15 All-America certificates during her Hoosier career, the most in school history.

Christiane Amanpour

2008-04-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Christiane Amanpour was born to an English mother, Patricia and an Iranian father Mohammed, in London, England, on January 12^th 1958. When Christiane and her sister Lizzy were still young their parents moved them to Tehran, Iran. At that time country was under the regime of the Shah of Iran and Christiane’s family led a privileged life with her father working as an Iranian Airline executive.

In 1979, when Christiane was just eleven years old her family had to leave Iran with the founding of the Islamic Revolution in the county. When she returned to her birth country she attended the Holy Cross Convent School in Buckinghamshire and then the exclusive Roman Catholic, New Hall School.

Amanpour’s university days were spent in America at the University of Rhode Island where she studied journalism. One of her college housemates was John F Kennedy Jr, with whom she remained close friends until his death in 1999.

When she graduated, with a bachelor of arts in journalism she was instantly employed by NBC affiliate, WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. But by 1993 she had been spotted by CNN and was sent on assignments around the world, including covering the conflicts in Sarajevo, Kuwait and Iraq. The first Persian Gulf War in 1990, saw Christiane covering the Iraqi occupation of neighbouring Kuwait and it was during this period that she became the face of CNN while covering the atrocities that Saddam Hussein inflicted on the civilians of Kuwait.

She has been recognized as one of the top 100 Most Powerful Women.

Shiva Rose

2008-04-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Shiva Rose Gharibafshar (born 8 February 1969 in Santa Monica, California) is an American actress.

Of Irish and Persian descent, she is married to American actor Dylan McDermott.

They have two daughters, Colette and Charlotte. On September 27, 2007, People magazine confirmed that Rose and McDermott have separated.

Her father, Parviz Gharibafshar, was a popular television personality in his native Iran and now a personality on the Persian Broadcasting Company, Tapesh.

Rudabeh Bakhtiar

2008-04-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

Born on June 21, 1966 in Fresno, California is an Iranian-American journalist who has over a decade's experience worked for major international news outlets CNN and Fox News Channel.

Rudi Bakhtiar joined FOX News Channel (FNC) as a general correspondent in January 2006, and held that role until July 2007. Prior to joining FNC, Bakhtiar worked for 9 years at CNN, joining the network in 1996. During her time at the network, she held multiple different positions, including anchoring on the CNN's spin-off network, Headline News, and as a co-anchor of CNN Student News, a 30-minute commercial free news program designed for use in the classroom. Throughout her cable news career, she has reported on assignments from numerous countries, in addition to anchoring the start of coverage of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Prior to working as a news anchor, Bakhtiar worked at a pharmaceutical company doing pharmaceutical sales.

Yasmin Lebon

2008-04-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Born on October 29, 1964, in Oxford, England, is an English model. She was born to an Iranian father, Iraj A. A. Parvaneh, and an English mother. Yasmin Le Bon is currently represented by Elite+ in New York City and Models 1 in London.

In 1981, the young Yasmin was discovered by a local modeling agency while working a part-time sales job.

In mid 1984 Yasmin Parvaneh met Simon Le Bon, lead singer of Duran Duran. The couple married on December 27, 1985.

Yasmin Le Bon took a brief hiatus from modeling in 1986 to recover from a miscarriage. Soon she returned to the business and in April 1987 was hired by GUESS? for a key advertising campaign. In the late 1980s She appeared on the cover of the first American and British issues of Elle. She has also been on the covers of Vogue, V, I.D., Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar and many others.

After several more miscarriages Le Bon eventually gave birth to a daughter, Amber Rose, in August 1989. She was back on the catwalks within weeks. In September 1991, Le Bon had her second daughter, Saffron Sahara, and then, three years later, had her third, Tallulah Pine. In the spring of 2001, Le Bon, a 36-year-old mother of three, modeled bikinis for Marks & Spencer. In 2003, she signed an exclusive deal with designer Matthew Williamson and his sponsor, Ariel Essential. During this period she was managed in the U.S. by Elite Model Management.

As a model Le Bon has represented Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Bergdorf Goodman, Biotherm, Bloomingdale's, Bonwit Teller, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Christian Dior, Clairol, Escada, Filene's, Freemans, Frasercard and Gianfranco Ferre, amongst others.

Cameron Alborzian

2008-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

Gracing the pages of almost every popular fashion magazine for over 2 decades, Cameron's career has taken him to heights of the fashion world. This model of Persian and British heritage is a favorite of Lagerfeld and Versace and many other European fashion houses. Since 2001, Cameron's life has evolved around Yoga for years in witch since he has endeavoured to serve the natural healing world with powerful healings of Yoga.

Farzan Athari

2008-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Farzan Athari ( born June 26, 1984 in Tehran, Iran. Is a Swedish fashion model, and also actor, TV host and TV personality. He is credited to be one of the well recognized International male models in the world. He was the first International Model in the history to sign a modeling contract in Iran.

Sarah Shahi

2008-04-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

Aahoo Jahansouz Shahi, also known as Sarah Shahi (born January 10, 1980, in Euless, Texas, U.S.), is an American actress and model of Iranian and Spanish descent. former NFL Cheerleader and a great-great-granddaughter of the 19th century Persian Shah Fath Ali Shah Qajar by Begom Khanom (daughter of Hossein Qoli Khan Afshar, niece of Begom Khanom, daughter of Emam Qoli Khan Afshar), through their son Jahansouz Shah. Shahi was named #90 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" ; she moved up to #66 in 2006.

Sarah Shahi was born in Euless, Texas, to an Iranian father and Spanish mother, Abbas and Mahmonir Jahansouz Shahi. She attended Trinity High School and Dallas' Southern Methodist University, majoring in English and Opera . Shahi started her career as a beauty queen during her teen years. She won the Miss Fort Worth USA pageant in 1997. She joined the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 1999-2000 squad and appeared on the cover of their 2000 calendar.

Firouz Naderi

2008-04-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

An Iranian-American scientist (born in Iran) and the Associate Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) responsible for Project Formulation and Strategy.

He received his Ph.D.from the University of Southern California in electrical engineering (writing his dissertation in the area of digital image processing) and joined JPL in 1979.

His career at JPL has spanned system engineering, technology development and, program and project management for satellite communications systems, Earth remote sensing observatories, astrophysical observatories and planetary systems

He was named head of the Mars Exploration Program at JPL in 2000 after the Program had suffered two consecutive failures. In summer of 2000 he helped replan the Program as a chain of scientifically, technologically and operationally interrelated missions with a spacecraft launch to Mars every two years. He led the Program for the next five years, a span of time that included the successful landing of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.

Before Mars, he managed the Origins program, NASA’s ambitious technology-rich plan, to search for Earth-like planets in other planetary systems.

He joined JPL in September of 1979. His early work at JPL was on system design of large satellite-based systems for nationwide cellular phone coverage. He went to NASA Headquarters for two years in the mid-80s to serve as the program manager for the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS), the front-runner of today’s multi-beam space-switching commercial satellites. Upon his return to JPL, he became the project manager for the NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) Project aimed at space-based measurement of winds over the global oceans with application to weather forecasting. He was a co-founder of a startup company in the mid-‘80s and consultant to other startup companies in the same period. Dr. Naderi is an Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautic and Astronautic (AIAA).

Sacha Cohen

2008-04-14T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born October 13, 1971) is a British comedian, writer and a Golden Globe-winning actor most noted for his comic characters Ali G (a junglist-hip hop gangsta wannabe from suburban Staines), Borat (a Kazakh reporter), and Bruno (a flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter).
Baron Cohen, was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to an Orthodox Jewish family. His mother, Daniella (née Weiser), teaches at a school of movement and was Born in Israel; of Persian Jewish descent. His father, Gerald Baron Cohen, originally from Wales, owns a menswear shop in Piccadilly.

Catherine Bell

2008-04-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

Bell was born in London, England, the daughter of Mina, a personal assistant and nurse, and Peter Bell, an architect. Her mother was Iranian and her father English. Her parents divorced and she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, California when she was three years old. She became a naturalized citizen of the United States at the age of twelve.^{[citation needed]} A self-described "geek", Bell thrived in math and biology classes in school, and in junior high school once programmed a computer video game.

She acted in various television advertisements as a child. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with an interest in becoming either a biomedical engineer or a physician but dropped out to become a full-time model.

One of Bell's first modeling jobs was an extended assignment in Japan. When she returned to California, she studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse with Milton Katselas. Her first television acting role was one line on the sitcom "Sugar and Spice" (1990).Her first appearance in a film was as a partially nude body double for Isabella Rossellini in Death Becomes Her (1992).

From 1997 to 2005, Bell starred as U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie on the television series JAG as a practicing attorney in the U.S. Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps. Her earlier TV work included an appearance in a late night adult series called "Hot line" which aired in the U.K. From 1994 to 1996. Bell was featured in "The Brunch Club" episode.

In 2003, the actress had a supporting role as a television news anchor in the comedy Bruce Almighty, which starred Jim Carrey. She reprised the role with a cameo in the 2007 sequel Evan Almighty.

Bell appeared in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries The Triangle, presented in December 2005, playing an ocean engineer. In 2006, she was nominated in Saturn Award of Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Supporting Actress on Television (The Triangle).

In 2007, Bell starred in Lifetime's ensemble drama series Army Wives as Denise Sherwood, the wife of a US Army major, who is enduring physical abuse at the hands of her teenage son.

Cameron Cartio

2008-04-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Born Kamran on 9 April 1978 in Tehran, Iran, is a pop singer and songwriter.

At was eight years old, his family left Tehran to spend a year in Barcelona, after which they moved to Malmö in southern Sweden. Cartio and his family ended up in Rosengård.

He made his debut in Melodifestivalen 2005 with his song Roma. The song was written in a language he made himself.

Mahyar Monshipour

2008-04-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

WBA Super Bantamweight Champion 4 July 2003 – 18 March 2006
Born on the 21st of May in Tehran, Iran, Mahyar arrived in France when he was ten years old. He now lives in Poitiers with his wife, Anne. His club is the “ Blagnac Boxing Sport Club “.

Tireless fighter, he constantly forces his opponents backwards.

Even at his first professional fight for the World Champion title, he had a blazing victory.

Marjan Satrapi

2008-04-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

Satrapi grew up in Tehran in a communist family who was involved with the communist and socialist movements in Iran, prior to the Islamic Iranian Revolution. She attended the Lycée Français there and witnessed, as a child, the growing oppression of civil liberties and the everyday-life consequences of Iranian politics, including the fall of the Shah, the early regime of Ayatollah Khomeini, and the first years of the Iran-Iraq war.

Satrapi is a great-granddaughter of Nasser al-Din Shah, Shah of Persia from 1848 until 1896. However, Satrapi points out that "the kings of the Qajar dynasty...had hundreds of wives. They made thousands of kids. If you multiply these kids by generation you have, I don't know, ten to fifteen thousand princes and princesses. There's nothing extremely special about that."^[4]

In 1983, at the age of 14, Satrapi was sent to Vienna, Austria, by her parents in order to flee the Iranian regime. According to her autobiographical graphic novel, Persepolis, she lived there during her high school years, returning to Iran for college. At college, she met a man named Reza, whom she married at age 21 and divorced roughly a year later. She then studied Visual Communication, eventually obtaining a Master's Degree in Visual Communication from the School of Fine Arts in Tehran Azad University. Satrapi then moved to Strasbourg, France. She currently lives in Paris, where she works as an illustrator and an author of children's books.

Satrapi's career began in earnest when she met David B., a French comics artist. She adopted a style similar to his, especially in her earliest works. Satrapi became famous worldwide because of her critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novels Persepolis and Persepolis 2, which describe her childhood in Iran and her adolescence in Europe. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Her later publication, Broderies (Embroideries) was also nominated for the Angoulême Album of the Year award in 2003, an award which was won by her most recent novel, Poulet aux prunes.^[5]^[6] She has also contributed to the Op-Ed section of The New York Times.^[7]

Persepolis was adapted into an animated film of the same name, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007 and shared a Special Jury Prize with Still Light (Luz silenciosa) by Carlos Reygadas. Co-written and co-directed by Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the French-language picture stars the voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darrieux, and Simon Abkarian. The English version, starring the the voices of Gena Rowlands, Sean Penn, and Iggy Pop, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in January 2008. ^[8]^[9]

Marshall Manesh

2008-04-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

Marshall Manesh was born on August 16, 1950 in Iran. He lost his father at an early age and was raised by his beloved mother, whom he feels he got his strength from to make it in acting. He came to America in the mid "70s" and joined the Persian Theater Group and traveled extensively through out The United States, Canada and Europe for 8 years. His debut film was "True Lies" as Jamal Khaled, directed by James Cameron. Marshall has done more than 75 feature Films, Television projects and more than 40 commercials. He currently has a recurring roles on: Will & Grace as "Mr. Zamir", "How I met your mother as "Ranjit", Scrubs as "Dr. Akbar" and Boston Legal as "George Keene".

Shohreh Aghadashloo

2008-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Shohreh Aghdashloo was born in Tehran Iran on May 11 1952. In the 1970s at age 20 she achieved nationwide stardom in her homeland Iran starring in some prominent pictures such as "The Report" directed by the renowed Abbass Kiarostami which won critics awards at the Moscow Film Festival. In 1978 she won wider acclaim and established herself as one of Iran's leading ladies with "Sooteh Delan" (Broken Hearts) directed by the late Ali Hatami.

During the 1978 Islamic revolution, Aghdashloo left Iran for England, completing her education. Her interest in politics and her concern for social injustice in the world, led her to earn a B.A. degree in International Relations.

She continued to pursue her acting career, which eventually brought her to Los Angeles in 1987. She went on to marry actor/playwright Houshang Touzie, performing in a number of his plays, successfully taking them to national and international stages. However it was not easy getting work in Hollywood as a middle eastern actress with an accent, she had roles in some decent though not great films including "Twenty Bucks" "Surviving Paradise" and "Maryam". She had to wait quite some time to get a "Hollywood" break.

And finally, years after having read the acclaimed novel "House of sand and fog", Dreamworks were in the making of bringing the story to the big screen. After having cast Ben Kingsley as Massoud Amir Behrani and Jennifer Connelly in the lead roles, they were looking for a relatively unknown Iranian actress to play Kingsley's wife, Nadi. Shohreh Aghdashloo was duly cast. She stole the limelight and earned herself an Academy award nomination as best supporting actress amongst many other prestigious awards, including the Independent spirit award as best supporting actress in a feature film, The New York and Los Angeles film critics award and others.

Freddie Mercury

2008-04-14T11:12:00.000-07:00

On the small quiet island of Zanzibar on the 5th of September 1946, Farrokh Bulsara was born to Bomi and Jer Bulsara. The Bulsaras were an Indian Persian family Living in Zanzibar, Africa. Farrokh's father worked as a High Court cashier for the British Government.
best known as the lead singer of the rock band Queen (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001). He was noted for his vocal abilities and for his live performances. As a songwriter, he composed many international hits, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love". In addition to his work with Queen, he produced several minor hits as a solo artist. Mercury, who was of Indian Parsi descent and who grew up in India, has been referred to as "Britain's first Asian rock star."^[1] He died of bronchopneumonia induced by HIV (AIDS) on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.

Although Queen were not always popular with rock music critics,^[2]^[3]^[4] estimates of the band's worldwide record sales to date have been placed as high as 300 million.^[5] The band has also spent more collective weeks on the UK Album Charts than any other musical act, including The Beatles.^[6] On the other hand, Queen's level of popularity often lagged in the United States relative to many other countries, especially during the 1980s. In 2006, Time Asia named Mercury as one of the most influential Asian heroes of the past 60 years.^[7] However, he has also been criticised for having kept his ethnicity, as well as his HIV status, a secret from the public.^[8]^[9]

Andre Agassi

2008-04-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Andre was born on April 29, 1970, to Mike and Betty Agassi. His father, a former boxing champ and Olympian from Iran, settled in Las Vegas taking work as a tennis instructor. And as soon as little Andre could walk, Mike taped a racket to his son's hand and hung a tennis ball over his crib. ''He was convinced that if my eyes are going to move around as a little baby, I might as well be looking at a tennis ball,'' says Andrew.
By the age of 10, Andre was beating fellow up-and-coming US players including Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. Aged 13, he'd simply learned all he could from his dad. Mike shipped his son off to legendary coach Nick Bollettieri's famed tennis boot camp in Bradenton, Florida. But Andre didn't take to the rigors of the tennis academy and began to rebel, growing out his hair and even wearing denim jeans to tournaments. In 1986 he left the training camp, but retained Nick as his coach, turning pro aged just 16. And he never looked back. ''I always planned on being a professional, and I figured I might as well just get out there and do it,'' says Andre.
His bad boy image proved popular with both corporate sponsors and the ladies. Millions of dollars worth of endorsement deals rolled in and he was seen on the arm of a bevy of women, including Barbra Streisand. In 1992, he jetted off to Wimbledon at the last minute after nearly deciding to skip the All England lawn event entirely. Smart move. He shocked even himself, defeating Goran Ivanisevic in the finals and claiming his first major title.
When his relationship with Nick soured, Andre turned to fellow American and pro Brad Gilbert to coach him and over the next couple of years he claimed two Grand Slam trophies and an Olympic gold medal. In 1993 he started dating Suddenly Susan star Brooke Shields and the two eventually married in California on April 19, 1997.
''I was playing a lot of golf, going out a lot, enjoying Brooke's world,'' says Andre. ''It was awesome...It was nice not to have the responsibility I've known since I was a child.'' However, the charms of Hollywood soon wore thin and the couple divorced amicably just ten days shy of their two-year wedding anniversary. ''Love is not enough for a marriage to work,'' he says.
Realising he missed playing competitive tennis, Andre started on a much-chronicled weight training programme and diet and began training with a purpose. With his 1999 win at the French Open he became the first man since Rod Laver in the Sixties to win all four grand slam events in his career and the only player besides German tennis star Steffi Graf to win all four plus an Olympic gold medal for singles.
Fittingly, he and Steffi soon began dating - and two years later the couple announced they were expecting their first child. ''He's always tried to walk this balance between his life and his tennis, and here's someone that supports both,'' says Perry Rogers, Andre's manager. ''So there is this complete balance. It just funnels right down together.'' The high-profile pair wed on October 22, 2001, in a private ceremony in Las Vegas. Steffi gave birth to a baby boy, Jaden Gil, just four days later. In October 2003 the happy couple announced the birth of their second child, a girl whom they have called Jaz Elle.

Omid Kordestani

2008-04-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development

Omid Kordestani is the senior vice president of global sales and business development. He is directly responsible for Google's worldwide revenue generation efforts as well as the day-to-day operations of the company’s sales organization. As Google's "business founder," Omid led the development and implementation of the company's initial business model. Since joining in May of 1999, he has brought Google to profitability in record time, generating more than $10 billion in revenue in 2006.

Omid has more than 20 years of high-technology consumer and enterprise experience, holding key positions at several start-ups, including Internet pioneer Netscape Communications. As vice president of business development and sales, he grew Netscape's online revenue from an annual run-rate of $88 million to more than $200 million in 18 months. Prior to Netscape, he held positions in marketing, product management, and business development at The 3DO Company, Go Corporation and Hewlett-Packard.

Omid received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from San Jose State University.

Anousheh Ansari

2007-10-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

The first female space tourist
co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, Inc and a spaceflight participant with the Russian space program. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The Ansari family is also the title sponsor of the Ansari X PRIZE. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first female Muslim and first Iranian in space.

Born Mashhad, Iran, Ansari and her parents moved to Tehran shortly afterward. Ansari witnessed the Iranian Revolution in 1979. She emigrated to the United States in 1984 as a teenager.

She received her Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University and her master's degree at George Washington University.

After graduation, Ansari began work at MCI, where she met her future husband, Hamid Ansari. They married in 1991.

In 1993, she persuaded her husband, Hamid Ansari, and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, to co-found Telecom Technologies, Inc., using their savings and corporate retirement accounts, as a wave of deregulation hit the telecommunications industry. The company was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc. in 2000 for $550 million dollars in stock.

Pierre Omidyar

2007-10-31T15:10:00.000-07:00

Ebay founder internet billionaire
Pierre was born in Paris, France to Iranian parents. At the age of six his family left Paris and moved to the United States. Throughout high school Pierre developed an interest in computers and in 1988 graduated from Tuft’s University with a degree in Computer Science.

After graduation he worked for Claris a subsidiary of Apple Computer. His expertise during this time was in software development. He, along with three friends, co-founded Ink Development Corp. which later was renamed e-shop. In 1996 the company was sold to Microsoft, but he remained fascinated by the technical challenges of online commerce.

One night, during dinner with his fiancée, she mentioned that she enjoyed collecting and trading Pez candy dispensers. Her sadness was in the lack of availability for trade in their area. This inspired Pierre to create a simple prototype on his personal web page launching an online service called auction web. The business flourished as people began to register trade goods of an unimaginable variety. The site was kept running through a small fee maintained from a sale. As expansion continued Pierre added a feedback form allowing members the ability to rate one another in 1997 the name was changed to eBay and aggressive advertising began.

The company was not only a service of convenience; Pierre showed its members an incredible level of respect. His attitude shone through during a time of service interruption in which Pierre directed company managers to personally call the top 10,000 users apologizing for the inconvenience.

His unique charisma carried over to the development of the Omidyar Network. Originally the site was created as a tool to share news, information, discuss different ideas and viewpoints, collaborate on documents, post announcements, synchronize business calendars, and, in general, keep informed. At birth membership was limited but this soon changed as Pierre recognized the usefulness of its service.

The rules to the site are simple; membership’s open to those who believe in making the world a better place. It’s insisted that each member show respect. Lastly, and most importantly, it is believed that everyone has something to contribute.

It can’t be denied that Pierre’s high quality ethics have greatly contributed to his success. According to Forbes Magazine, Pierre is listed as number 43 in financial worth. There is no doubt that if you factored this accompanied with moral value Pierre Omidyar would be listed within the top ten.

Isaac Larian - The Bratz

2007-10-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Isaac Larian (born March 28 1954, Kashan, Iran) is the Chief Executive Officer of MGA Entertainment, the biggest privately owned toy company in the world. He was born in Iran to Persian Jewish parents.

After graduating from CSULA in civil engineering, he started a business exporting electronic goods, and later (2000) expanded their company to include the creation, development and marketing of the Bratz doll. Two of the dolls bear the names of his children, son Cameron and daughter Jasmin (although her doll uses the Persian and Arabic spelling Yasmin). Currently his third child doesn't have a Bratz doll, but that can change with the next release. Larian has 3 sisters and one brother. Around 2000, he got in a lawsuit with his brother, Farhad Larian. Isaac Larians wife's name is Angela Neman.

He was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" (Consumer Products category) by Ernst & Young in 2004.

His motto, "Fortune favors the bold" is displayed throughout MGA's building.