1. Nazanin Boniadi is a British actress and activist.
42 Facts About Nazanin Boniadi
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Since then, Boniadi has played Nora in the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, Fara Sherazi in the spy thriller series Homeland, Esther in the historical drama film Ben-Hur, Clare Quayle in the sci-fi thriller series Counterpart, Zahra Kashani in the action thriller film Hotel Mumbai, and Bronwyn in the first season of the fantasy series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
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Nazanin Boniadi was an Amnesty International spokesperson from 2009 to 2015 and served as a board member for the Center for Human Rights in Iran from October 2015 until February 2021.
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Nazanin Boniadi's focus has been on youth and women's rights.
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Nazanin Boniadi was born in 1980 in Tehran in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.
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Nazanin Boniadi earned a bachelor's degree with honours, in biological sciences from the University of California, Irvine.
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Nazanin Boniadi was assistant editor-in-chief of MedTimes, UCI's undergraduate medical newspaper.
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Nazanin Boniadi changed her career path from science and started pursuing acting in 2006.
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Nazanin Boniadi is the first actress born in Iran to ever be on contract on an American soap opera.
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Nazanin Boniadi played supporting roles in several major Hollywood film productions, such as Charlie Wilson's War, Iron Man, and The Next Three Days.
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Nazanin Boniadi played Nora, a love interest for Neil Patrick Harris's character Barney Stinson, on the sixth season of the hit CBS show How I Met Your Mother in 2011.
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Nazanin Boniadi reprised this role during the show's seventh and ninth seasons.
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In May 2013, Nazanin Boniadi joined the cast of Homeland season 3 as CIA analyst Fara Sherazi, and was promoted to a series regular for the show's fourth season.
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Nazanin Boniadi appeared in an eight-episode arc on season 3 of Scandal as antagonist Adnan Salif.
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Nazanin Boniadi portrayed Esther, the title character's wife, in the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur.
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Nazanin Boniadi starred with Dev Patel and Armie Hammer in the 2018 feature film Hotel Mumbai, a dramatisation of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as British-Iranian heiress Zahra Kashani.
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From 2018 to 2019, Nazanin Boniadi received critical acclaim for portraying the series regular role of Clare Quayle in the Starz espionage drama Counterpart.
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In early 2020, it was revealed that Nazanin Boniadi had been cast in an undisclosed role in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime.
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Nazanin Boniadi stepped aside from the role prior to the show filming its second season; the role was not recast.
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Nazanin Boniadi has been involved in human rights activism, with a focus on youth and women's rights.
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Nazanin Boniadi was a spokesperson for Amnesty International USA, with a focus on the unjust conviction and treatment of Iranian youth, women and prisoners of conscience, from 2009 until 2015.
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Nazanin Boniadi has her own official blog page on the AIUSA website and continues to partner with them.
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In 2009 Nazanin Boniadi provided a voiceover to AIUSA's "Power of Words" public service announcement introduced by Morgan Freeman; campaigned with the organization for the International Violence Against Women Act ; served as a panellist and emcee for events related to Iranian rights, and spearheaded The Neda Project with AIUSA.
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On 3 June 2011, Nazanin Boniadi joined Sarah Shourd in a rolling hunger strike and wrote an article in support of the Free the Hikers campaign, pertaining to the imprisonment of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal in Iran.
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Nazanin Boniadi delivered the keynote closing remarks at the 2012 XX Factor, Amnesty International USA's annual town hall meeting on women's rights, in Washington, DC.
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In December 2012, Nazanin Boniadi worked with Roxana Saberi to launch an Amnesty International petition and campaign to free wrongfully imprisoned filmmaker Behrouz Ghobadi, brother of acclaimed filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, in Iran.
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Nazanin Boniadi was a keynote speaker at Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's 13th annual "A World of Women for World Peace" conference in Dallas, Texas in May 2013.
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Nazanin Boniadi has written op-eds about human rights for media outlets such as CNN, The Washington Post, and Defense One.
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In 2014, Nazanin Boniadi was selected as a term member by the think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
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Nazanin Boniadi was selected as a lifetime member of the CFR in 2020.
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Nazanin Boniadi served as a member of the board of directors of the Center for Human Rights in Iran from October 2015 until February 2021.
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Nazanin Boniadi has appeared on BBC World News and CNN International.
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Nazanin Boniadi asked that the Australian Government designate the IRGC as a terror organisation and encourage the UK, Europe, Canada to do the same.
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Nazanin Boniadi questioned China's intentions in playing the role of mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia, warning of the danger of "autocracies taking that top spot in the world".
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Nazanin Boniadi was living in Los Angeles, California, US, in 2017.
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In October 2004, Nazanin Boniadi was volunteering for the Office of Special Affairs in Los Angeles when she was told by Church official Greg Wilhere that she had been selected for a special project.
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Nazanin Boniadi was told that her dental braces had to be removed and that her red hair highlights had to be corrected; she was encouraged to end her relationship with her longtime boyfriend.
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Nazanin Boniadi was later asked to leave and move into the Celebrity Centre.
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Nazanin Boniadi was allegedly punished by having to dig ditches at midnight and scrub floor tiles.
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Nazanin Boniadi left the Church of Scientology soon after and in October 2014 called herself a "non-practising Muslim".
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On 10 May 2017, American journalist Tony Ortega reported on FBI testimony that Nazanin Boniadi had given in January 2010 regarding her relationship with Cruise through the Church of Scientology.
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Nazanin Boniadi's testimony describes how the Church's Office of Special Affairs selected her to be Cruise's girlfriend.