Nazanin Boniadi is both an actress and an activist — someone who campaigns, specifically, for human rights in Iran, where she was born. She is a poised, knowledgeable, and graceful woman. There is steel behind the gentleness. We have done a podcast, a Q&A, here.
Her parents left Iran only three weeks after she was born. The ayatollah Khomeini and his revolutionaries had seized power. Her father had to run for his life. They ran to London. Nazanin grew up there. She went to college in the United States. She always kept in touch with Iranian affairs, she always felt a strong connection.
She has appeared in many movies and television shows. These include General Hospital, How I Met Your Mother, CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, Hotel Mumbai, Counterpart, Homeland, and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
There are risks involved in activism — even activism from abroad. It may cost you something in your profession, your “day job.” But far more serious: The Islamic Republic has been known to kidnap and murder “troublemakers” abroad. Still, says Nazanin, whatever risks she is taking “pale in comparison to what people have to face on the ground in Iran.”
Believe it or not, there are Iranians living abroad who are defenders of the regime, and critics of those who criticize it. There are such Russians, Chinese, and others, too. And yet they have voted with their feet, haven’t they? They live in the freedoms and comforts of the West.
Some Iranians abroad say, “The United States is wrong for sanctioning the Iranian government. The government is merely responding to hostility and threats from the West.” Nazanin Boniadi points out that protesters in Iran have a slogan: “Our enemy is right here. You lie that it’s America.”
People in Iran are losing their fear, says Nazanin. And when people under a dictatorship lose their fear — it’s the dictatorship, not the people, that is in trouble.
At the close of our podcast, Nazanin says, “Our fates are far more interconnected than we may like to believe. If we turn a blind eye to the injustices across the world, they will land on our doorstep. If we understand the fragility of our freedoms, and never take our freedoms for granted, I think we are more inclined to show sympathy for people around the world.”
Again, to listen to Nazanin Boniadi — something very well worth doing — go here.