Iranian thespians who adopt stage names

Many actors and directors across the world change their names when they start their professional artistic endeavors.  Natalie Hershlag who won the Oscar for ‘Black Swan’ in 2010 is a case in point, as well as Natalie Portman and Queen Latifah.

Their Iranian counterparts who have adopted stage names are not few and far between as the list below shows otherwise. Before reading the roll, it is noteworthy that the full names in Iran may include more than two words and suffixes as a collection of first and last names in contrast with the western system that prefers just one word for each. Additionally, the middle name is mostly treated as part of the last name in Iran.     

 Iranian actors and actresses with different stage names

1. Born as Ahmad-Saeed Haghparast-Rad, Iranian actor Saeed Rad is one of the veteran Iranian thespians who shortened his rather long full name.

2. Golab Adineh, born as Golab Mosta'an, is an actress who has appeared in several Iranian movies and series such as ‘Mom’s Guest’ and ‘The Envoy’.

3. Sakineh Kaboudar-Ahang is the stage name for Iranian actress Parvaneh Masoumi who has appeared in a number of ifilm series such as ‘Prophet Joseph’ and ‘Chrysanthemums’.

4. Hamideh Kheirabadi was another Iranian actress born as Nadereh Kheirabadi. ‘Parent Problems’ was one of her series aired by ifilm. The female actor who mostly appeared in motherly characters in films and series passed away due to a brain stroke in 2010 at the age of 86.

5. Famous young actor Sina Mehrdad who starred in ifilm hit series ‘Father’ had a different surname-Soheili- before shooting to fame. 

6. One of ifilmers’ most favorite stars, Pejman Bazeghi, has a double surname which he dropped the last part before gaining fame on the small and big screens.

Bazeghi has appeared in series, such as 'The Friendship Agency' (1998-1999), 'Under the City Sky' (2001), 'The Seamen' and  'The Man with a Thousand Faces'.

Two famous Iranian directors with long full names 

While having double-barreled surnames is considered to be kind of posh in the UK, Iranian stage names go against this trend. 

Iran mega-directors Majid Majid and Ali Hatami are two examples with the former's last name being Majidi-Talesh or Talesh-Majidi (in some references) and the latter's first name being a pair of two words- Abbas-Ali.

Internationally appreciated film producer, director and screenwriter, Majid Majidi, has directed many masterpieces such as ‘The Color of God’ and ‘Muhammad: The Messenger of God’, as well as ‘Sun Children’ that was most recently acclaimed at Venice fest 2020. 

Ali Hatami was a renowned Iranian director who made memorable historical series such as ‘Hezar Dastan’ before departing this life in 1996. His daughter, Leila Hatam’ is one of the most acclaimed Iranian actresses.

Based on the article's analysis, the stage name in Iran is either shorter with one word for the first and one for the last name or made as a new one totally different from the original first or last name.   

AG/AG