Her Latest Gig: Aisha in Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies. Farahani plays a modest Arab nurse who helps treat Leonardo DiCaprio’s injuries while dodging his advances in the action thriller about CIA agents tracking terrorists abroad.
You Know This Face Because… As the first Iranian-based woman to appear in an American film since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Farahani is in hot water. She now faces charges for appearing in Body of Lies without permission from the government and is being investigated for violating Islamic law by appearing without hijab (proper cover of the entire body except face and hands). Iranian officials temporarily took her passport and she now fears returning home.
What’s Next? Despite her award winning career and box-office success in Iran, officials there are threatening to ban her latest movie Darbereh Elli (All About Elli).
In Her Own Words…“I had a lot of problems because of this movie,” Farahani, who is living in France with her husband, told the New York Daily News. “The intelligence service interrogated me several times…I’m on trial. I’m totally in love with Iran. I have family there. But now, if they want to see me, they have to leave…I’m going to stay here. I lost one opportunity to do a screen test for the Prince of Persia. I’m not ready for that again.”
LAST WEEK’S FRESH FACE: Ricky Mabe
