Hedieh Tehrani was born in Tehran in 1972. Since her first film role, in Masoud Kimiai's The King in 1997, she has become one of the best-known actors in Iranian cinema, in films from Red to Asghar Farhadi's Fireworks Wednesday. She is also a photographer. Her popularity reaches well beyond the cinema, and she uses it for the causes she cares about: animals, nature and the people who protect them.
On the land
In the countryside, among old timber and wooden doors.
For animals and the earth
In April 2016, after reports that city authorities were killing street dogs, Hedieh Tehrani joined a gathering in Tehran's Laleh Park for animals and for nature. She and a group of environmental activists were detained for a few hours and then released. She has also stood with the campaign against a petrochemical plant planned at Miankaleh, a protected peninsula and wildlife refuge on the Caspian coast.
What I admire most is that for her this is never a pose. She takes the side of animals that have no voice, and she accepts what that costs.
A friendship
We have shared sets, long evenings and hard years. When I look at these photographs I see a friend before I see a star. I am proud that our work brought us together, and prouder that it turned into a friendship.
Sources
Wikipedia, Hedieh Tehrani. Radio Zamaneh, on the Laleh Park gathering, April 2016.
