Leila Hatami

Leila Hatami is an Iranian actress born in Tehran, where she began appearing as a child in films by her father, director Ali Hatami, among them the historical television series Hezardastan (1988), the biopic Kamalolmolk (1984), and The Love-stricken (1992), in which she played a blind Turkish princess. After high school she moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, to study electronic engineering before switching to French literature, then returned to Iran. Her professional film debut came with Dariush Mehrjui's Leila (1997), playing the title role; critics and audiences praised her performance, and she earned a Diploma of Honor for Best Actress at the 15th Fajr Film Festival. She later won Best Actress at the 26th Montreal World Film Festival for The Deserted Station (2002), appeared in Portrait of a Lady Far Away (2005), and won the Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival for Asghar Farhadi's A Separation (2011).