# Maral Baniadam

Maral Baniadam (Persian: مارال بنی‌آدم; born September 20, 1981) is an Iranian actress. She won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress at the 42nd Fajr International Film Festival for her performance as Parvin E'tesami in the 2024 biographical film Parvin.

## Early life

Maral Baniadam was born on September 20, 1981, in Tehran. She completed an undergraduate course in the field of acting. She has a daughter and a son, named Asal and Iliya respectively.

## Career

As an actress, she started her career in theatre and completed acting training courses held under supervision of Mahtab Nasirpour in Canada. In early stage of her career, she played in “Drought and Lies” (directed by Pedram Alizadeh) and Oscar winner film, The Salesman (directed by Asghar Farhadi) Among other films she played as an actress is “Gisum” and In the Arms of the Tree screened in 38th Fajr Film Festival As a theatre actress, Maral Baniadam has also played some plays like “The Other Side of the Mirror”, “Bernard Died” and “God of Carnage” directed by Ali Sarabi which the lather gained the enthusiasm of the audiences.
She has also played in the short film The Small Panda, the Big Panda directed by Sahar Khoshnam. She also played the role of “Sara”, one of the influencing roles, in The Accomplice with actors Hedyeh Tehrani and Parviz Parastui.
She was selected as a player and played in Asghar Farhadi's The Salesman following a 2-minute video sent to Farhadi. Then she played “Delbar” in Gisum film produced by Saeed Sadi and directed by Navid Behtooei in 2020. She played the first female role in “In the Arms of the Tree” film. The latter film is preparing for submission to 41st Fajr International Film Festival

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 2016 | The Salesman | Kati | Asghar Farhadi | |
| 2016 | Drought and Lies | Giti | Pedram Alizadeh | |
| 2019 | Small Panda, Big Panda | | Sahar Khoshnam | Short film |
| 2021 | Gisoum | Delbar | Navid Behtooee | |
| 2023 | In the Arms of the Tree | Kimia | Babak Khajeh Pasha | |
| 2024 | Parvin | Parvin E'tesami | Mohammad Reza Varzi | Won – Crystal Simorgh Fajr Film Festival Award for Best Actress |
| 2025 | Sayyad | Efat Shoja' | Javad Afshar | |

### Web

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Platform | Ref(s) |
| 2020 | The Accomplice | Sara | Mostafa Kiaei | Filimo, Namava | |
| 2023 | The Translator | Parisa | Bahram Tavakoli | Namava | |

## Theatre

She has played in roles in “Shaparak Khanom” and “The Local Songs”, directed by Mohammad Rahmanian, a fame play writer and theatre director. She has also played in “Arash Sad” play written by Bahram Beizaei which took stage in McMaster Hall, in West Vancouver, Canada and 32nd Fajr International Theatre Festival. In “Bernard Died” play, written by Mashhud Hosseinian and directed by Ali Sarabi, staged in Iranshahr Theatre, Maral Baniadam played with Behnaz Jafari, Ali Sarabi and Atefeh Razavi which warmly welcomed by the audiences. In “The Lord of Massacre” directed by Ali Sarabi, staged in Sharzad Theatre Complex in 2016, she played with Setareh Pesiani and Navid Mohammadzadeh which highly influenced the audiences. Ali Sarabi said: “The Lord of Massacre has had more than fourteen thousand audiences”.
Baniadam performs a nice role in “God of Carnage”. The unique moment of the play hence its peak, is the vomiting scene of “Ant” in which Maral Baniadam vomits several times in the stage.
The Other Side of the Mirror” staged in Vahdat Theatre Hall, Tehran on 6 April 2002 and Maral Baniadam played with fame figures like Rima Raminfar, Elnaz Habibi and Pejman Jamshidi. Maral Baniadam and Elnaz Habibi alternatively play the unique role. The ticket-selling site of “The Other Side of the Mirror” was filtered following an order issued by Center for Theatre Arts, the governmental authority supervising over the theatre. Dragan Skočić, the Coach of Iran national football team, was among the audiences in 5th night of the play. “The Other Side of the Mirror” is a play written by French play writer Florian Zeller.
| Year | Title | Director | Role |
| 2012 | Shaparak Khanom | Mohammad Rahmanian | |
| 2013 | Arash Sad | Mohammad Rahmanian | |
| 2014 | The Local Songs | Mohammad Rahmanian | |
| 2015 | Bernard Died | Ali Sarabi | |
| 2016 – 2018 | God of Carnage | Ali Sarabi | Ant |
| 2017 | The Other Side of Mirror | Ali Sarabi | |

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Year | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
| Fajr Film Festival | 2023 | Best Actress in a Leading Role | In the Arms of the Tree | Nominated |
| Fajr Film Festival | 2024 | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Parvin | Won |
| Hafez Awards | 2024 | Best Actress – Motion Picture | In the Arms of the Tree | Nominated |