List of Iranians

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of Iranians

This is a list of famous or important Iranians:

Contents

1 In the news
2 Artists

In the news

Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 2nd place, Miss World 2003; Miss Canada 2003.
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Goli Ameri, Republican nominee for U.S. House of Representatives
Ramona Amiri, Miss Canada 2005.
Anousheh Ansari, X Prize named after her.
Ladan and Laleh Bijani
Shirin Ebadi
Akbar Ganji
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Zahra Kazemi
Nasser David Khalili, Billionaire, Art Collector. [link]
Mohammad Reza Khatami
Ross Mirkarimi
Mostafa Moin
Shermine Shahrivar, Miss Europe 2005. [link]

Artists

Authors and poets

See main article: Persian literature
See main list: List of Persian poets and authors

Painters

Mani
Kamaleddin Behzad
Reza Abbasi
Aydin Aghdashloo
Hanibal Alkhas
Kamal ol-Molk
Hossein Behzad
Ali Bozorgmehr [link]
Iran Darroudi
Sohrab Sepehri
Mahmoud Farshchian
Mansoureh Hosseini
Shaikh Mohammad Shirazi
Ali Akbar Tajvidi
Farrukh Beg
Dust Mohammad Mosawwar
Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam
Aqa Buzurg
Polton Poxon Reang
Hema Kumar
Kevai Thangal
Amit Verma
Pallavi Sharma --- I'm really a gr8 Painter
Abu 'l-Hasan Ghaffari
Farshid Maleki
Manouchehr Atash
Majid Fadaeian
Zhaleh Kazemi
Maryam Hashemi (Maryam Sandjari)

Photographers

See main list: List of Iranian photographers

Calligraphists

Gholam Hossein Amirkhani
Ali Bozorgmehr [link]
Mir Emad Hassani
Bahman Panahi

Cinema artists

Actors & Actresses

Akbar Abdi
Golab Adineh
Mahnaz Afshar
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Pegah Ahangarani
Taraneh Alidousti
Jahangir Almasi
Fariborz Arabnia
Daryoush Arjmand
Asal Badiee
Delkash
Ezzatollah Entezami
Homayoun Ershadi
Hadi Eslami
Parviz Fannizadeh
Behzad Farahani
Golshifteh Farahani
Shaghayegh Farahani
Mohammad Ali Fardin
Farimah Farjami
Bita Farrahi
Hamid Farrokhnezhad
Jahangir Forouhar
Leila Forouhar
Mohammad Reza Foroutan
Garsha
Faramarz Gharibian
Sorayya Ghasemi
Googoosh
Mohammad Reza Golzar
Azita Hajian
Mehdi Hashemi
Jamshid Hashempour
Leila Hatami
Amin Hayaee
Rambod Javan
Hamid Jebeli
Niki Karimi
Mohammad Ali Keshavarz
Reza Kianian
Gowhar Kheirandish
Fakhri Khorvash
Majid Majidi
Nasser Malekmoti'ee
Jamshid Mashayekhi
Parvaneh Ma'soumi
Mehran Modiri
Bahman Mofid
Ali Mosaffa
Fatemeh Mo'tamed-Aria
Ahmad Najafi
Ali Nassirian
Roya Nonahali
Hossien Panahi
Parviz Parastouee
Atila Pesyani
Mahaia Petrosian
Parsa Pirouzfar
Parviz Pourhosseini
Saeed Poursamimi
Saeed Rad
Bahram Radan
Davoud Rashidi
Habib Rezaee
Homa Rousta
Reza Rouygari
Hossein Sarshar
Parviz Sayyad
Reza Shafi'eejam
Khosrow Shakibaee
Mozhdeh Shamsaee
Mehraveh Sharifinia
Mohammad Reza Sharifinia
Jamileh Sheykhi
Soroush Sehhat
Iraj Tahmasb
Amin Tarokh
Sussan Taslimi
Hedyeh Tehrani
Behrouz Vossoughi
Merila Zare'i

Directors and Filmmakers

Behrouz Afkhami
Kianoush Ayyari
Morteza Avini
Shoja Azari, director. [link]
Bahram Beizaee
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
Saeed Ebrahimifar
Ahmad Reza Darvish
Abolhassan Davoudi
Bahman Farman-Ara
Ramin Farahani
Iraj Ghaderi
Rabeah Ghaffari, director. [link]
Behrooz Gharibpoor
Bahman Ghobadi, director of A Time for Drunken Horses
Akbar Golrang
Ali Hatami
Ebrahim Hatamikia
Hassan Hedayat
Ardeshir Irani director of first Indian Talkie, Alam Ara
Abolfazl Jalili
Samuel Khachikian
Abbas Kiarostami, director of Taste of Cherry
Masoud Kimiaee
Parviz Kimiavi
Esma'il Kooshan
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, director of Kandahar
Samira Makhmalbaf, director of At Five in the Afternoon
Majid Majidi, director of Children of Heaven
Darius Mehrjui (Daryoush Mehrjouee), director of Leila
Mehran Modiri, director of Pavarchin, Noghtechin, Shabhaye Barareh
Jalal Moghaddam
Rasoul Mollagholipour
Amir Naderi
Jafar Panahi, director of The Circle
Babak Payami, director of Silence between Two Thoughts
Abdolhossein Sepanta
Sohrab Shahid-Sales
Kamran Shirdel
Khosrow Sinaee
Kamal Tabrizi
Nasser Taghvaee
Iraj Tahmasb
Shahin Yazdani

Musicians and Singers

Electronic

Leila Arab
Deep Dish
Farshad Farshadmanesh (Farlander)
DJ Maryam
Fred Maslaki
Ali Movasat (DJ Aligator)
Steve Naghavi (of German industrial group And One)
Nami
Behrouz Nazari
Omid Nourizadeh
Ali "Dubfire" Shirazinia (of Deep Dish)
Shahram Tayebi (of Deep Dish)

Pop

(Sorted according to the first letter of the most famous name)

Arash (Arash Labaf}
Arian Band
Alireza Assar
Andy Madadian
Anousheh Khalili (the singer of Deep Dish's Flashdance song)
Babak Torgoley (formalized the "di" method heard in today's pop music)
Bijan Mortazavi
Darius Danesh
Dariush Eghbali
Delkash
Ebi (Ebrahim Hamedi)
Faramarz Aslani
Farhad (Farhad Mehrad)
Fereidoun Farrahi
Fereidoun Foroughi
Golpa (Akbar Golpaygani)
Googoosh
Habib
Hayadeh
Hodi
Homeirah
Houshmand Aghili
Kamran Delan
Kamran & Hooman
Kaveh Yaghmaei
Kourosh Yaghmaei
Leila Forouhar
Mahasti
Mansour
Mohammad Esfehani
Mohammad Nouri
Morteza
Reza Sadeghi
Sattar
Shadmehr Aghili
Shahkar Bineshpazhooh
Shahram Solati
Shohreh Solati
Shahram Shabpareh
Siavash Ghomeyshi

Iranian Classical/Traditional

See List of Iranian composers

Western Classical

Lily Afshar
Shahin Farhat
Golriz Hashemi
Aminollah Hossein
Lotfi Mansouri
Nader Mashayekhi
Alexander (Ali) Rahbari
Anoushiravan Rohani
Shahrdad Rohani
Heshmat Sandjari
Farshad Sandjari
Loris Tjeknavorian (Loris Cheknavarian)

Journalists

Sasan Aghaei
Hashem Aghajari
Masih Alinejad
Ahmad Allahyari (احمد اللهياری), Ferdowsi Magazine Keyhan Political Activist see also Persian poet
Pouian Allahyari
Christiane Amanpour
Rudi Bakhtiar
Emadeddin Baghi
Mohammad Taghi Bahar
Massoud Behnoud
Ali Akbar Dehkhoda
Masoud Dehnamaki
Akbar Montajebi
Pari Esfandiari [link]
Mirzadeh Eshghi
Farrokhi Yazdi, pahlavi era.
Akbar Ganji
Mohammad Ghouchani
Kaveh Golestan, BBC Late photographer, Pulitzer Prize winner.[link]
Saeed Hajjarian
Ashkan Khajehnoori
Nikahang Kowsar
Arash Markazi
Omid Memarian
Azadeh Moaveni
Sina Motallebi
Ebrahim Nabavi
Ali Reza Nourizadeh
Kioumars Saberi Foumani
Shadi Sadr
Ahmad Shamlou
Mashallah Shams-ol-vaezin
Hossein Shariatmadari
Youness Shokrkhah
Jahangir Khan Soor-Esrafil
Amin Zarghami

Leaders and politicians

The list here excludes the royalty. An extensive list of Persian royalty appears further down in this page.

Historical (pre-Pahlavi Dynasty)

(alphabetized by last name)

Fadl ibn Sahl, Abbasid vizier
Abu Muslim, leader of revolt
Amir-Kabir, Grand Vizier
Heidar Khan Amughli, Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Iran during the Constitutionalist Revolution of Gilan.
Dr Talequani Heshmat, jangali leader and ally of Mirza Kuchek Khan.
Bagher Khan, constitutionalist leader
Hosein Dadgar, parliament speaker.
Gha'em-Magham Farahani, prime minister
Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma, prime minister, multiple other roles.
Hassan-i-Sabah, sectarian political leader.
Kaveh the Blacksmith, leader.
Mirza Kuchek Khan, constitutionalist leader of Guilan.
Mirza Reza Kermani, assassin.
Mohammad Khiabani, leader.
Mostowfi ol-Mamalek, Prime Minister.
Nizam al-Mulk, statesman and vizier.
Fazlollah Noori, revolutionary cleric.
Nosrat Dowleh Firouz Mirza, provincial govenor.
Mahmud Khan Puladeen, senior military general.
Safi Al-Din, founder of dynasty.
Sattar Khan, constitutionalist leader.
Colonel Pesian

Modern (post-Qajar)

Pahlavi period

Ardeshir Zahedi
Mahmud Mahmud, politician
Sepahbod Ahmad Amir-Ahmadi, military leader
Colonel Pesian, military leader
Dr Ahmad Ahmadi, notorious prison interrogator
Mehdi Agili, minister of education
Mohammad Hosein Airom, senior military leader
Jahangir Amouzegar, former minister, and former Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund.[link]
Hushang Ansary, Minister of Finance, President of NIOC
Teymour Bakhtiar, head of SAVAK
Karim Buzarjomehri, Army General military aide of Reza Shah, Mayor of Tehran
Ali Akbar Davar, Minister, and founder of Iran's modern Judiciary system.
Hossein Fardoust, deputy head of SAVAK
Hossein Fatemi, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Amanullah Jahanbani, senior military leader, and father-in-law of Christiane Amanpour's father.
Mohammad Khatami, four-star General, Commander of Iranian Air Force
Mahmoud Khayami, leading industrialist.
Hassan Modarres, member of parliament
Nasser Moghaddam, head of SAVAK
Nematollah Nassiri, head of SAVAK
Manucher Mirza Farman Farmaian, Director of Sales for NIOC and Ambassador to Venezuela
Sattareh Farman Farmaian, Established first social worker schools in Iran.
Abbas Mirza Farman Farmaian, Minister of Parliament
Firouz Mirza Nosrat-ed-Dowleh Farman Farmaian, Minister of Finance
Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari
Hassan Pakravan, head of SAVAK
Abdollah Riazi, first speaker of parliament
Seyyed Zia'eddin Tabatabaee
Amir Abdollah Tahmasebi, military leader
Teymour Tash, senior politician
Hasan Toufanian, four-star army general

Served in Islamic Republic government

Mohammad Abaee-Khorasani, member of parliament
Ali Abdolalizadehh, minister of housing and urban development
Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, vice speaker of parliament
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, vice president
Emad Afrough, member of parliament
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mayor of Tehran, now president of Iran
Abbasali Alizadeh
Hossein Allah-Karam
Ayatollah Amini, deputy chair of Assembly of Experts
Majead Ansari, member of parliament
Hossein Ansari-Rad, member of parliament
Mohammad Reza Aref, first vice president
Mohsen Armin, member of parliament
Hamid Reza Assefi, foreign affairs spokesman
Habibollah Asgarowladi, member of parliament
Ebrahim Asgharzadeh
Ayatollah Azari-Ghomi
Hassan Ayat
Asadollah Badamchian
Mohammad Javad Bahonar, prime minister
Mohammad Reza Bahonar, vice speaker of parliament
Abolhassan Banisadr, president
Mehdi Bazargan, prime minister
Mohammad Beheshti, head of judiciary
Ala'eddin Boroujerdi, member of parliament
Mostafa Chamran, Minister of Defense
Maoud Dehnamaki
Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, minister of intelligence
Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president
Gholam Hossein Elham
Saeed Emami, vice minister of intelligence
Mohammad Emami-Kashani
Ali Fallahian, minister of intelligence
Nafiseh Fayyazbakhsh, parliament representative
Iraj Fazel, minister of health
Hassan Ghafourifard, minister of energy
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, minister of foreign affairs
Shahabeddin Gonabadi, minister of housing and urban development
Saeed Hajjarian, Tehran council member
Hassan Habibi, first vice president
Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, speaker of parliament
Fatemeh Haghighatjou, member of parliament
Morteza Haji, minister of education
Mehdi Hashemi
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, president
Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, member of parliament
Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of judiciary
Gholamreza Hassani, Friday Prayer Imam of Urmia
Elias Hazrati, member of parliament
Mahmoud Hojjati, minister of roads and transportation
Ruhollah Hosseinian
Nasrollah Jahangard, chair of Supreme Council of ICT
Ahmad Jannati, chair of Council of Guardians
Gholamhossein Karbaschi, mayor of Tehran
Mehdi Karroubi, speaker of parliament
Sadegh Khalkhali, Sharia ruler
Kamal Kharrazi, minister of foreign affairs
Ali Khamenei, supreme leader
Hadi Khamenei, member of parliament
Ahmad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami, president
Mohammad Reza Khatami, deputy speaker of parliament
Abolghasem Khaz'ali
Ahmad Khomeini
Ruhollah Khomeini, supreme leader, founder of the Islamic Republic
Elaheh Koulai, member of parliament
Asadollah Lajevardi
Ali Larijani, president of IRIB
Mohammad Javad Larijani, member of parliament
Sadegh Larijani
Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani
Alireza Mahjoub
Hossein Mahlouji, minister of mining and metals
Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi
Ali Meshkini, chair of Assembly of Experts
Mohsen Mirdamadi, member of parliament
Ata'ollah Mohajerani, minister of culture and Islamic guidance
Ayatollah Mohammadi-Gilani
Mohseni-Ezhe'i
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, member of parliament
Rasoul Montajebnia, member of parliament
Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri
Saeed Mortazavi
Morteza Motahhari
Ahmad Motamedi, minister of communications
Mir-Hossein Mousavi, prime minister
Abdolkarim Mousavi-Ardabili
Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari, minister of interior
Hossein Mousavi-Tabrizi
Ali Movahhedi-Kermani
Behzad Nabavi, vice speaker of parliament
Morteza Nabavi
Elias Naderan, Majlis Representative
Mohammad Reza Naghdi
Mohammad Ali Najafi, minister of education
Hadi Namazi
Bizhan Namdar-Zangeneh, minister of oil
Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, speaker of parliament
Mohammad Niazi
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht
Abdollah Noori, minister of interior
Alireza Noori, member of parliament
Mohsen Nourbakhsh, head of Central Bank of Iran
Ali Parvaresh
Masoud Pezeshkian, minister of health
Mohsen Rafighdoust
Ebrahim Raisi, first deputy of head of judiciary system
Mohammad Ali Rajai, president
Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, government spokesman
Ali Razini
Mohammad Reyshahri
Mohsen Rezaee, member of Expediency Discernment Council
Hassan Rowhani, deputy speaker of parliament
Mohammad Saeedikia, minister of roads and transportation
Mohsen Safaee-Farahani, member of parliament and head of Iranian Football Federation
Rahim Safavi
Mohammad Salamati
Ali Akbar Salehi
Ayatollah Sane'i
Abolghasem Sarhaddizadeh, member of parliament
Mohammad Sattarifar, vice president
Ali Shamkhani, minister of defence
Hossein Shariatmadari
Jalaleddin Taheri
Hamid Reza Taraghghi
Mostafa Tajzadeh, deputy minister of interior
Ahmad Tavakkoli, minister of labour
Akbar Torkan, minister of roads and transportation
Ayatollah Va'ez-Tabasi
Mohammad Yazdi, head of judiciary
Ebrahim Yazdi, foreign minister of interim government
Ali Younessi, minister of information
Ezzatollah Zarghami, president of IRIB
General Zolghadr

Not served or opposition

Ahmad Mofti Zadeh
Abdolrahman Ghasemlou
Sadegh Sharafkandi
Hashem Aghajari
Abbas Amir-Entezam
Mohammad Hossein Boroujerdi
Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize
Jalaleddin Farsi
Dariush Forouhar
Mansoor Hekmat
Bijan Jazani
Mohsen Kadivar
Abolghasem Kashani
Lotfollah Meisami
Navvab Safavi, militant cleric
Farrokh Negahdar
Habibollah Peiman
Jafar Pishevari
Alireza Rajaei
Maryam Rajavi
Masoud Rajavi, militant opposition leader
Mousa Sadr
Ezzatollah Sahabi
Yadollah Sahabi
Ali Shariati, sociologist
Azam Taleghani
Mahmoud Taleghani
Nasser Zarafshan
Asghar Parsa
Karim Sanjabi
Gholam-Hossein Sadighi
Parviz Varjavand
Abdolali Adib Baroumand
Kazem Hassibi
Allahyar Saleh
Jahangir Haghshenas
Ahmad Zirakzadeh
Alireza Saberi
Shapour Bakhtiar
Bagher Kazemi
Hossein Fatemi

Religious figures

See List of Marjas.
See List of Ayatollahs.

Nader Angha, Sufi Master of the Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi order
Báb, prophet
Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master born to Iranian immigrant parents
Bahá'u'lláh, prophet
Jamal al-Din Asadabadi
Muhammad ibn Ismail ad-Darazi
Haik Hovsepian Mehr, bishop and Christian martyr
Mani, founder of Manichaeism
Zoroaster, prophet
Mulla Sadra
Allameh Tabatabaei
Zahed Gilani
Safi Al-Din
Allameh Majlesi

Royalty

See comprehensive list of Persian/Iranian royalty.

Scientists, Scholars, and Academics

See comprehensive List of Iranian scientists and engineers of the pre-modern age.

See comprehensive List of Iranian scientists and engineers of the modern age.

Explorers and travellers

Ahmad ibn Rustah, 10th century Persian explorer of Russia, Scandinavia and Arabia.
Naser Khosrow, traveller, writer and poet
Issa Omidvar
Abdollah Omidvar
Zayn al-Abidin Shirvani
Naser Barati

Architects and Mi'mars

See full List of Iranian architects.

Modern scholars

Sports

Shawn Daivari, wrestler
Andre Agassi, tennis player
Khodadad Azizi, football (soccer) player
Mansour Bahrami, tennis player
Ali Daei, football (soccer) player
Mohammad Ali Fardin, Actor
Ehsan Ghaemmaghami, chess grandmaster
Ali Karimi, football (soccer) player
Hossein Rezazadeh, weightlifter
Mehdi Mahdavikia, football (soccer) player
Hadi Saei Bonehkohal, Taekwondo
Gholamreza Takhti, wrestler
Khosrow Vaziri, wrestler
Fereydoon Zandi, football (soccer) player
Syed Mohammed Hadi, Indian cricketer and tennis player of Persian descent
fereydoun maleki, shootboxing master
Abbas Jadidi, Pro. Wrestler

Translators

Karim Emami, Translation author and translator
Dariush Saberi, Localization, Translation translat

Iranian women

See special section on Iranian women and also List of famous Persian women.

Other

Saeed Asgar, assassin of Saeed Hajjarian
Minu Barati, wife of Joschka Fischer, the former German Foreign Minister.
Touri Bolourchi
George Deukmejian, former governor of California
Zahra Eshraghi, granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini and wife of Mohammad Reza Khatami
Shahram Jazayeri
Mori Hosseini, Distinguished community leader. [link]
Merhan Karimi Nasseri
Doris Lessing
Moshe Katsav, President of Israel
Farah Karimi, Iranian female Dutch Member of Parliament.[link]
Ross Mirkarimi, Member of San Francisco city council from Green Party
Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Defense Minister
Mandana Naderian, German TV hostess.[link]
Bijan Pakzad, World famous designer. [link]
Ali Sina, founder FaithfFreedom International.
Saadat Khan, First Nawab of Oudh in India.
Wajid Ali Shah, Last Nawab of Oudh, disposed of by the British East India Company.

Famous Armenians of Iran

Klara Abkar, painter
Armaees Aghamaliyan
Anik
Anoosh
Arman
Loris Tjeknavorian
Vigen Derderian, singer
Haik Hovsepian Mehr, bishop and Christian martyr
Varuzh Karim-Masihi
Varuzhan
Samuel Khachikian, film director
Loretta
Lotfi Zadeh, Creator of Fuzzy Logic
Rubik Mansuri
Ovannes Ohanian, Iranian first film director
Petrus Palian
Artashes Patmagarian
Mushegh Soruri
Yeprem Khan

Famous Americans in Iran

Howard Baskerville, Iran's first American martyr.
Arthur Pope and Phyllis Ackerman, Persian Culture revivalists.
Arthur Millspaugh, Treasury General, Persia.
Morgan Shuster, Treasury General, Persia.
Elgin Groseclose, Treasury General, Persia.
Annemarie Schimmel, German born Harvard expert on Iranian literature.
Richard Nelson Frye
David Stronach
Joseph Cochran
William M. Miller
Samuel M. Jordan whom "Jordan Ave." in Tehran is named after
John Limbert

Famous Iranians in America

See separate article: List of Iranian Americans.

Famous Iranians in Canada

See article: Iranian-Canadian

Famous Iranians in India

See articles: Parsis or Irani

External links

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