Iranian Actress Before the Occupation of Terrorists Islamist Republic

Farzaneh Taidi, was born in 1945, is an award-winning yet controversial actress of Iranian cinema from the 1970's. She started her career by studying theater and acting in Los Angeles. Farzaneh then debuted in the famed Hashtoumine Rooze Haffteh, an Iranian film to center on a female protagonist.

For her role in this successful film she won a Sepaas for 'Best Actress' at the Tehran International Film. Soon after the award, Farzaneh soon inundated with commercial offers by producers and filmmakers who wanted to showoff this beautiful talent.

This offended the serious-minded actress who then launched a public protest against those filmmakers who would continue to portray women as only sex objects. Farzaneh tried to take a stance against the traditional views of women in Iranian society.

She was soon boycotted by commercial producers, but this did not keep her from winning a "Best Actress" award in 1972 and another Seppasse for her roles in independent films. In 1975, Taidi appeared in the controversial Ghaire Aze Khoudo Hitch Kasse Naboud where she played a lesbian noblewoman forced to choose between her sexuality or her social status.

As the film contained graphic sex scenes, it was banned in Iran. After that, no producer would hire her. From 1977-1979 she was unemployed; she spent the time actively protesting the relegation of women and the compulsory veil. She managed to find stage work in Teheran's Laleh Zare from 1979-1981 until she was placed on the banned persons list.

For several years after, she was humiliated by the revolutionary guards until she escaped to London in 1986. She has lived and worked there ever since. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

For more info on her movies and performances, visit Farzaneh Taidi’s website at http://www.farzanehtaidi.com/.