Shohreh Aghdashloo

**Shohreh Aghdashloo** () (born **Pari Vaziri-Tabar**; May 11, 1952) is an Iranian actress. Her first major part was in 1977 on the movie _The Report_. She became well known for her part in _House of Sand and Fog_ which she was considered for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Aghdashloo currently has a starring role in _The Expanse_. In 2013, she wrote a book about herself called _The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines_.

## Early life

Aghdashloo was born in Tehran, Iran. Her parents were Effie al-Sadat and Anushiravan Vaziri-Tabar and she has three brothers: Shahram, Shahriar and Shahrokh. At the age of 19, Aghdashloo married painter Aydin Aghdashloo in 1972. During this time, she went to classes on theater even though her parents did not approve. She and Aydin divorced in 1979 when she left Iran for England during the Iranian Revolution.

She went to Brunel University and earned a Bachelor's degree in international relations. Later, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. She later became a U.S. Citizen. In 1987, she married actor and playwright Houshang Touzie. She was born to a Muslim family, but says she never practiced the religion.

### Films

|Year|Title|Role|class="unsortable"|Notes||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|1976|_Shatranje Bad_||||
|align="center"|1977|_The Report_||||
|align="center"|1978|_Sooteh-Delan_|Aghdas|||
|align="center"|1989|_Guests of Hotel Astoria_|Mrs. Pori Karemnia|First American film role||
|align="center"|1991|_Raha_|Raha|||
|align="center"|1993|_Twenty Bucks_|Ghada Holiday|||
|align="center"|2000|_Surviving Paradise_|Pari|First English language Iranian-American feature film distributed theatrically in the United States, written and directed by Kamshad Kooshan||
|align="center"|2001|_America So Beautiful_|Exiled Actress|||
|align="center"|2002|_Maryam_|Mrs. Homa Armin|||
|rowspan="4" align="center"|2003|_Possessed_|Woman|rowspan="2"|Short film by Shirin Neshat|
|_Pulse_|Woman|||||
|_Mystic Iran_|Narrator|Documentary film by Aryana Farshad||||
|_House of Sand and Fog_|Nadereh 'Nadi' Behrani|Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting FemaleLos Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting ActressNational Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress <small>(3rd place)</small> New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting ActressNominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2005|_The Exorcism of Emily Rose_|Dr. Sadira Adani|||
|_Babak and Friends – A First Norooz_|Farah|Animated film||||
|rowspan="4" align="center"|2006|_American Dreamz_|Mrs. Nazneen Riza|||
|_The Lake House_|Dr. Anna Klyczynski|||||
|_X-Men: The Last Stand_|Dr. Kavita Rao|||||
|_The Nativity Story_|Elizabeth|||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2008|_The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2_|Professor Nasrin Mehani|||
|_The Stoning of Soraya M._|Zahra Khanum|Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2010|_The Adjustment Bureau_|The Chairman|(Role was cut from finished version)||
|_The No Game_|Aunt Laila|||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2011|_Iranium_|Narrator|Documentary film by Alex Traiman||
|_On the Inside_|Dr. Lofton|||||
|align="center"|2012|_The Odd Life of Timothy Green_|Evette Onat|||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2013|_Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters_|The Oracle|Voice role||
|_Silk_|Rani|Short film by Catherine Dent||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2014|_Rosewater_|Moloojoon|||
|_Still Here_|Farzaneh|Short film by Ethan Rains||||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2015|_Last Knights_|Maria|||
|_Septembers of Shiraz_|Habibeh|||||
|rowspan="3" align="center"|2016|_Star Trek Beyond_|Commodore Paris|||
|_Window Horses_|Mehrnaz|Animated film||||
|_The Promise_|Marta Boghosian|||||
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2018|_A Simple Wedding_|Ziba Husseini|||
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2020|_Run Sweetheart Run_||||
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2023|_Renfield_|Bellafrancesca Lobo|||

### Television

|Year|Title|Role|class="unsortable"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|1990|_Matlock_|Saleslady|Episode: "Nowhere to Turn"|
|align="center"|1993|_Martin_|Malika|Episode: "Jerome's in the House"|
|align="center"|2001|_The Honduran Suburbs_|Zereshk|2 episodes|
|align="center"|2004|_The Secret Service_|Lila Ravan|Television film|
|align="center"|2005|_24_|Dina Araz|12 episodes: Day 4 Gold Derby TV Award - Best Drama Supporting Actress Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film|
|rowspan="4" align="center"|2006|_Smith_|Charlie|7 episodes|
|_Will & Grace_|Pam|Episode: "Cowboys and Iranians"|||
|_Curious George_|Hat Salesperson|Episode: "The Clean, Perfect Yellow Hat"|||
|_ER_|Mrs. Riza Kardatay|Episode: "Lost in America"|||
|align="center"|2007|_Grey's Anatomy_|Dr. Helen Crawford|Episode: "Scars and Souvenirs"|
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2008|_House of Saddam_|Sajida Talfah|4 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Nominated - Gold Derby TV Award - Best Miniseries/TV Movie Supporting Actress|
|_The Simpsons_|Mina|Episode: "MyPods and Boomsticks"|||
|align="center"|2009|_FlashForward_|Nhadra Udaya|3 episodes|
|rowspan="3" align="center"|2011|_Law & Order: Special Victims Unit_|Detective Saliyah "Sunny" Qadri|Episode "Dirty"|
|_House M.D._|Afsoun Hamidi|Episode: "Moving On"|||
|_NCIS_|Mariam Bawali|Episode: "Safe Harbor"|||
|rowspan="2" align="center"|2012|_Portlandia_|Nelofar Jamshidi|Episode: "Cool Wedding"|
|_The Mob Doctor_|Dr. Lauren Baylor|3 episodes|||
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2013|_Grimm_|Stefania Vaduva Popescu|7 episodes|
|rowspan="3" align="center"|2014|_Believe_|Mrs. Delkash|Episode: "Origin"|
|_Bones_|Azita Vaziri|Episode: "The Cold in the Case"|||
|_Scorpion_|Dr. Cassandra Davis|Episode: "True Colors"|||
|align="center"|2015|_Elementary_|Liliane Bellerose|Episode: "Tag, You're Me"|
|align="center"|2015–2022|_The Expanse_|Chrisjen Avasarala|Main role 6 seasons|
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2016|_Pearl_|Arlene|TV film|
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2017|_The Punisher_|Farah Madani|4 episodes|
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2019|_The Lion Guard_|Queen Janna|Voice Role; 4 episodes|
|rowspan="1" align="center"|2019–|_Impulse_|Fatima|2 episodes|
|align="center"|2024|The Penguin|Nadia Maroni|4 episodes|

### Video games

|Year|Game|Character||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2010|_Mass Effect 2_|rowspan="2"|Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay (voice)|
|2012|_Mass Effect 3_|||
|2014|_Destiny_|rowspan="2"|Lakshmi-2 (voice)|
|2017|_Destiny 2_|||

### Audio

|Year|Title|Role|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2019|_The Two Princes_|Queen Attosa|Audio drama|

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Shohreh Aghdashloo
- **image**: Shohreh Aghdashloo (3) (38111500402) (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Aghdashloo in 2017
- **birth name**: Pari Vaziri-Tabar
- **birth place**: Tehran, Iran
- **nationality**: Iranians, Iranian
- **occupation**: Actress
- **years active**: 1976–present
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 1