Leila Hatami

Leila Hatami was born on 1 October 1972, in Tehran, Iran, to influential Iranian director Ali Hatami and actress Zari Khoshkam. Leila first appeared in a film when she was 10, times of the 19th century Iranian painter Kamal-ol-Molk. In it, she played the painter as a young boy. Then eight years later in 1992, she appeared in another one of her father’s films called Love-stricken where she played a blind princess. However she did not originally intend to pursue acting. At high school, she studied mathematical physics.^[4] After finishing high school, she moved to Lausanne, Switzerland and started her studies in Mechanical engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). After two years she changed her major to French literature.^[5] She completed her study of French. Then her father became ill and she went back to Iran. He died in 1996. That same year, she played her first adult role in drama Leila which was directed by prominent film director Dariush Mehrjui. Her acting received praise both inside and outside of Iran.^[6]

Hatami played several small roles in her father's productions throughout her youth, including in the Hezar Dastan television series and the Kamalolmolk movie.^[7] Her first leading film appearance was the title role in the 1997 film Leila, directed by Dariush Mehrjui. She received the Diploma of Honor for Best Actress from the 15th Fajr Film Festival.^[8] Following this, she continued to act regularly in Iranian cinema.

She has starred in dozens of films, and has often garnered critical acclaim and accolades. For her performance in The Deserted Station (2002), she was nominated for the Fajr Film Festival Award for Best Actress and she won the Best Actress Award at the 26th Montreal World Film Festival.^[9]

She has appeared in her husband's films as a director, Portrait of a Lady Far Away (2005) and The Last Step (2012). She also designed the sets and the costumes of The Last Step and, in addition to receiving the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her performance, she received a nomination for the Crystal Simorgh Fajr Film Festival Award for Best Production Design and Costume Design for her work on the film.

In 2012, she received international attention for her role in the critical acclaimed Asghar Farhadi film, A Separation, which won dozens of accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.^[10] Her performance earned critical acclaim and various awards, including the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival.^[11] IndieWire praised her portrayal as one of the best female performances of the 21st century.^[12]

In June 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited Leila Hatami to become a member.^[13]

Judging at film festivals

In April 2014, she was announced as a member of the main competition jury at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.^[14] Whilst there, she greeted Cannes President Gilles Jacob with a kiss on the cheek, which is a form of greeting in France.^[15] Iran's Deputy Culture Minister Hossein Noushabadi criticized her for this:

"I hope that those who attend international arenas as Iranian women would be careful about the chastity and dignity of Iranians so that the image of the Iranian woman is not tainted before the world," he said. "If they respect Islamic norms and the national culture and beliefs of Iran, it would be a desirable thing for Iranian celebrities to go abroad, but if their presence lacks regard for social values and ethical criteria, the Iranian nation is not going to accept it."^[15]

In May 2014, after receiving significant backlash for the kiss in Iran—including calls for her to be flogged—Hatami later apologized for her actions in a letter.^[16][17]

Full list

• 2001 - Dubai Short Film Festival
• 2006 - 41st Karlovy Vary Film Festival – Main competition
• 2011 - Marrakech Film Festival
• 2011 - Deauville Film Festival
• 2012 - Rome Film Festival
• 2012 - Kastendorf Film Festival (Jury President)
• 2013 - Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
• 2014 - 67th Cannes Film Festival – Main competition
• 2022 - Vesoul Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Jury President)
• 2022 - 79th Venice Film Festival – Main competition

She married Ali Mosaffa, her co-star in Leila (1997) in 1998. They have two children: a son named Mani (born February 2007) and a daughter named Asal (born October 2008).

Beside her native Persian language she is fluent in French, English, and German.^[18]