Actor writes Dramatic Arts Day note

Veteran Iranian actor Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz has written the statement for this year’s National Dramatic Arts Day.

Shahram Karami, director of Iran’s Dramatic Arts Center, and Hamid Nili, director of the Iranian Association of Dramatic Arts, recently met Keshavarz at his home in Tehran to receive the statement.

Iran will celebrate the National Dramatic Arts Day simultaneously with World Theater Day on March 27.

The Dramatic Arts Center asks a veteran stage artist every year to issue the statement of the National Dramatic Arts Day.  

Keshavarz said “We should regard this occasion as an omen of good fortune since it helps people get closer to theater.”

“Having dignity is my first advice to the younger people who join the theatrical community,” he added.

He also asked the younger generation of stage art to read as well, so as to raise their knowledge of Persian literature and culture.

He signed a poster for the National Dramatic Arts Day at the end of the meeting.

Born in 1930, Keshavarz has graduated from the Tehran University Faculty of Dramatic Arts.

He began his acting career with the play 'Violinmaker' in 1960 and professional acting with plays such as ‘Uncle Vanya’, ‘Antigone’, and ‘Oedipus the King’.

In 1968, he took to the small screen and played in several series including, ‘Hezar Dastan’, ‘Heads on Gallows’, ‘Sultan and the Shepherd’, ‘The Wolves’, ‘The Patriarch’, ‘The Young Lawyers’, ‘Seasoned Rider’, ‘Youth’, ‘Lighter Than Darkness’, ‘A House in the Dark’, ‘The Unfamiliar Scent of Autumn’, ‘The Way of Infatuation’, and ‘Night Path’.

His cinematic debut was in ‘The Night of the Hunchback’ in 1964. Keshavarz has appeared in more than 60 films so far.

He has also appeared in movies such as ‘Mr. Simpleton’, ‘The Last Supper’, ‘Kamal-ol-Molk’, ‘The Man Who Became a Mouse’, ‘Mirza Nowruz’s Shoes’, ‘Jafar Khan Returns from Abroad’, ‘Nassereddin Shah Film Actor’, ‘The Devoted’, ‘The Fateful Day’, ‘Ghazal’, ‘The Legion’, and ‘Waiting’.

He was nominated for a Fajr Film Festival Crystal Simorgh for Best Male Actor for his role in ‘Mother’ in 1989.

MG/AG