# Parsa Pirouzfar

Parsa Pirouzfar (Persian: پارسا پیروزفر; born 13 September 1972) is an Iranian actor, theatre director, painter, playwright and translator. He is best known for his role in In the Eyes of the Wind (2009–2010), and Mum's Guest (2004). He has received various accolades, including a Hafez Award and an Iran Cinema Celebration Award, in addition to a nomination for a Crystal Simorgh.

## Early life

Parsa Pirouzfar was born on 13 September 1972 in Tehran, Iran. He is an actor; theatre director, acting instructor, playwright, painter, and translator. From 1984 to 1990, when he was in high school, he created his first comic strips. According to the information holds on his official website, these comic stories never has been published. Having graduated from high school with Math and Physics major in 1990, he started his academic studies in painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran in 1991. Where, in the same year, he also started acting on stage in different university plays. Parsa Pirouzfar also worked as a voice-over actor from 1993 to 1997. His first film role came at the age of 22 in 1994, playing a brief part in Dariush Mehrjui's Pari. In the same year, he studied “Stanislavsky's acting method” under acting instructor Mahin Oskouei, the Iranian theater director and instructor and Iran's pioneering female theatre arts figure. In 1995, he continued his studies in acting at Samandarian Institute of Dramatic Arts under renowned Iranian film and theatre director, translator, and acting instructor Hamid Samandarian. His stage debut was in the same year. He performed in Les Misérables directed by Behrouz Gharibpour, Iranian theatre director and pioneer of traditional Persian puppet theatre, and played as Marius Pontmercy; however, he became involved in theatre while he was studying painting at the University of Tehran and even before playing Marius. Having graduated with a bachelor's degree from Tehran University's Faculty of Fine Arts in painting in 1997, he performed in The Lady Aoi by Yukio Mishima, directed by Bahram Beyzaie, and played the role of Hikaru. This was his second official appearance on the stage of the theatre. Parsa Pirouzfar officially started working on his own personal projects for the stage in 2001, and he made his directional debut in theatre with 'Art', a play by Yasmina Reza. He gave acting courses as a theatre instructor at Karnameh Institute of Arts and Culture as well as in extracurricular acting classes at Allameh Tabatabaie University in 2004 and 2005 and also at Hilaj Film School in 2007, 2010, and 2011. Since graduation from high school, Parsa Pirouzfar has also been involved periodically in sculpture, graphic design, and making teasers. Parsa Pirouzfar is a founder member of Iranian Theatre Actors Association, member of Khaneh Cinema (Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds), ⁣ member of Iranian Film Actors Association (I.F.A.A.) and The Theatre Forum.

## Career
### Matryoshka (play)

In 2015 Parsa Pirouzfar directed the play Matryoshka, a Persian-language satire based on selected short stories of Anton Chekhov, translated, written, and directed by Parsa Pirouzfar. Matryoshka first premiered on 13 September 2015 at Theatre West, as a solo performance, in Los Angeles. The play has over 30 characters all performed by the playwright and theatre director Parsa Pirouzfar in its theatrical production. Matryoshka subsequently ran for two years in the US cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Berkeley as well as Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal in Canada in 2015 and 2016; and finally, after multiple performances due to its immense popularity, finished its staging in Tehran in Iran in 2017.
Matryoshka was particularly important to Parsa Pirouzfar's career. His unique performance playing over 30 characters of the play all by himself was stunningly iconic. Matryoshka earned him the Golden Statue Award for Best Actor in the 35th Celebration of the annual Fajr International Theatre Festival in Tehran, Iran in 2017.

### Member of jury

* 9th Iranian Film Festival, Australia (IFFA), 2020
* Theatre Forum, ⁣ 2010-2011
* 14th Celebration of 'Khaneh Cinema (The Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds)', 2010
* 10th Celebration of 'Khaneh Cinema (The Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds)', 2001
* 9th Celebration of 'Khaneh Cinema (The Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds)', 2000

### Association memberships

* Iranian Theatre Actors Association, founder member
* Khaneh Cinema (The Iranian Alliance of Motion Picture Guilds)
* Iranian Film Actors Association (I.F.A.A.)
* Iranian Theatre Actors Association
* Theatre Forum

### Teaching and instructing

* Freelance Workshops and Acting Classes
* Hilaj Film School, 2007, 2010 & 2011
* Extracurricular Acting Classes of Allameh Tabatabaie University, 2004–2005
* Karnameh Institute of Arts and Culture, 2004–2005

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1992 | The Status | College Student | Ebrahim Vahidzadeh | |
| 1995 | Pari | Eremitic Man | Dariush Mehrjui | |
| 1996 | The Feast | Abed | Masoud Kimiai | |
| 1998 | Mercedes | Yahya | Masoud Kimiai | |
| 1999 | Girls in Expectancy | Saeed Masrour | Rahman Rezaei | |
| 1999 | Sheida | Farhad Harandi | Kamal Tabrizi | |
| 2000 | Protest | Ghasem | Masoud Kimiai | |
| 2000 | A Girl Named Tondar | Ra'ad | Hamid Reza Ashtianipour | |
| 2002 | The Lucky Bride | Injaneb | Kazem Rastgoftar | |
| 2003 | The Time of Harvesting the Walnuts | Latif Kashani | Iraj Emami | |
| 2004 | Mum's Guest | Yousef | Dariush Mehrjui | |
| 2004 | The Tear of the Cold | Kaveh Kiani | Azizollah Hamidnezhad | |
| 2004 | Late at Night | | Asghar Naimi | Short film, unreleased |
| 2005 | Mask | Nima | Kazem Rastgoftar | |
| 2005 | The Unwanted Woman | Rahim | Tahmineh Milani | |
| 2009 | The Day Goes and the Night Comes | Farrokh | Omid Bonakdar, Keyvan Alimohammadi | |
| 2011 | Here Without Me | Reza | Bahram Tavakoli | |
| 2011 | Absolutely Tame Is a Horse | Borzou | Abdolreza Kahani | |
| 2014 | Life Is Elsewhere | Ali | Manouchehr Hadi | |
| 2015 | Gap | Farhad | Kiarash Asadizadeh | |
| 2015 | Closer | Ehsan | Mostafa Ahmadi | |
| 2019 | Numbness | Shahrokh | Hossein Mahkam | |
| 2020 | Titi | Ebrahim | Ida Panahandeh | |
| 2020 | No Choice | Dr. Sa'adat | Reza Dormishian | |
| 2024 | Intoxicated by Love | Rumi | Hassan Fathi | |

### Web

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Platform | Notes |
| 2022 | Rebel | Bahman Kazemi | Mohammad Kart | Filimo | Main role |
| 2024 | At the End of the Night | Behnam Afshar | Ida Panahandeh | Filmnet | Main role |
| TBA | White Magic | | Ida Panahandeh | Filimo | Main role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes | Network |
| 1995 | Under Your Protection | Parsa Farzinpour | Hamid Labkhandeh | TV series | IRIB TV2 |
| 1998 | In My Heart | Reza Toloui | Hamid Labkhandeh | TV series | IRIB TV3 |
| 2002 | The Green Journey | Daniel Wessberg | Mohammad Hossein Latifi | TV series | IRIB TV3 |
| 2009–2010 | In the Eye of the Wind | Bijan Irani | Masoud Jafari Jozani | TV series | IRIB TV1 |

## Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Playwright | Translator | Notes |
| 2019 | The Visit | Schoolmaster | Parsa Pirouzfar | Friedrich Dürrenmatt | Parsa Pirouzfar | |
| 2018 | Les Misérables | Jean Valjean | Hossein Parsaei | Victor Hugo | | (Musical) |
| 2018 | A Summer's Day | Mof | Parsa Pirouzfar | Slawomir Mrozek | Parsa Pirouzfar Sepideh Khosrowjah | |
| 2015-2017 | Matryoshka | All of the Characters | Parsa Pirouzfar | Parsa Pirouzfar (based on selected short stories of Anton Chekhov) | Parsa Pirouzfar | Golden Statue Award for Best Actor in the 35th Celebration of annual Fajr International Theatre Festival (2017) The play has over 30 characters performed by the playwright and theatre director Parsa Pirouzfar in its theatrical production. |
| 2014 | Out at Sea | Fat Castaway | Parsa Pirouzfar | Slawomir Mrozek | Parsa Pirouzfar | |
| 2013 | Stones In His Pockets | In 10 role: Charlie Conlon, Jake Quinn, Aisling, third A.D., Mickey, Caroline Giovanni (American star), John (accent coach), Sean Harkin, Dave (a crew member), Sean Harkin (twelve years), Sean Harkin (eight years), Sean’s cousin, Kevin Doherty (Interviewer). | Parsa Pirouzfar | Marie Jones | Parsa Pirouzfar | |
| 2012 | God of Carnage | Alan Raleigh | Parsa Pirouzfar | Yasmina Reza | | Stage reading |
| 2011 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Richard Roma | Parsa Pirouzfar | David Mamet | Parsa Pirouzfar | |
| 2001 | 'Art' | Marc | Parsa Pirouzfar | Yasmina Reza | ‌Bahman Kijarostami | |
| 1998 | The Lady Aoi | Hikaru | Bahram Beyzaie | Yukio Mishima | Bahram Beyzaie | By Bahram Beyzai production |
| 1995-1997 | Les Misérables | Marius Pontmercy | Behrouz Gharibpour | Victor Hugo | Behrouz Gharibpour | |

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Year | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
| China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival | 2006 | Best Actor in a Foreign Film | The Tear of the Cold | Won |
| Fajr Film Festival | 2004 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Mum's Guest | Nominated |
| Fajr International Theater Festival | 2017 | Best Actor | Matryoshka | Won |
| Hafez Awards | 2005 | Best Actor – Motion Picture | Mum's Guest | Nominated |
| Hafez Awards | 2011 | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | In the Eyes of the Wind | Nominated |
| Hafez Awards | 2023 | Best Actor – Motion Picture | Titi | Nominated |
| Hafez Awards | 2024 | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | At the End of the Night | Won |
| Iran Cinema Celebration | 1999 | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Sheida | Nominated |
| Iran Cinema Celebration | 2000 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Protest | Nominated |
| Iran Cinema Celebration | 2004 | Best Actor in a Leading Role | The Tear of the Cold | Nominated |
| Iran Cinema Celebration | 2004 | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Mum's Guest | Won |
| Jam-e-Jam Television Festival | 2010 | Favorite Actor in a Television Series | In the Eyes of the Wind | Won |
| Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema | 2005 | Best Actor – Asian and Arab Competition | The Tear of the Cold | Won |