Navíd Akhavan

Navid Akhavan (Persian: نوید اخوان; born 9 June 1980 in Tehran) is an Iranian-German actor and film director. He is also known as Navid Navid.[1]

Navid Navid
Born (1980-06-09) 9 June 1980
Tehran, Iran
Other namesNavid Akhavan
OccupationActor / Director
Years active2001–present
AwardsAudience Award at the UMFF 2014
Websitehttp://www.navidnavid.com/

Navid was born in Teheran, Iran.[1] Due to the Iran–Iraq War Navid (age 4) escaped with his family from his native country.[1] After briefly living in the United States, they immigrated to Germany in 1985.

Navid grew up speaking English, German, and Persian.[1] Due to his fathers profession, an event manager, he was introduced to the stage and audience from an early age. He performed on stage for the first time when he was eight years old.[1] Until the age of 16 he was the opening act of dozens of concerts.

After he graduated in 2001 from the "Schauspiel Zentrum", a school for performing arts in Cologne, Germany, he started to work as an actor in film, TV and theatre. He played the role of Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeares Macbeth and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Altonaer Theater in Hamburg, Germany.

In 2003, his first leading role in a film gained him a nomination at the Munich Filmfestival in the category "Best Actor in a Leading Role" for his portrayal of Yunes in Elmar Fischer's Fremder Freund. In the same year the film won the acclaimed First Steps Award, the Digital Visions Award as well as the Audience Award at the Filmz Mainz film festival.

His other leading roles include Mohsen in Salami Aleikum and Jamal in 45 Minutes to Ramallah (both comedies directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi) as well as the drama For a Moment Freedom (written and directed by Arash T. Riahi), which won 30 awards[2] at international film festivals and was the Austrian entry for the Academy Awards in 2009. Navid has worked on films in German, Persian and English. In the Hollywood production Septembers of Shiraz, which can be seen on Netflix, he plays the part of Morteza next to Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek.

From 2005 until 2010 Navid and his brother Omid produced Persian pop music as "Navid & Omid". They released two studio albums (Faryad & Kolli Sefaresh) as well as several music videos during that time, which all Navid wrote and directed.

Navid has also been working as a music video director for other singers. He has won awards at international filmfestivals with the music videos November's Fall and Habs, which he made for the Iranian legendary singer Ebi. The acclaimed music video Behesht, which Navid wrote and directed for the Iranian superstar Googoosh, gathered international attention since it was the first time a homosexual love story had been portrayed in an Iranian music video. Some of the international articles include the Los Angeles Times,[3] The Guardian,[4] Die Welt,[5] The World,[6] De Volkskrant,[7] The Times of Israel,[8] Huffpost[9] and Euronews.[10]

Navid is also a guest teacher and gives workshops on how to direct actors and produce music videos at the SAE Berlin.

In 2020 he narrated Dalia Sofer's novel Man of My Time for Audible.[11]

Filmography (selection)

Awards
  • Nomination at the Filmfest Munich for his performance in Fremder Freund (Category: Best Actor in a Leading Role)
  • Audience Award at the UMFF for the music video Habs

References
  1. "Biography". Navid Navid. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  2. "Für einen Augenblick Freiheit von Arash T. Riahi". www.foramomentfreedom.com. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  3. "Lesbian-themed music video by expatriate Iranian singer sparks debate". Los Angeles Times. 19 February 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  4. "Iran's queen of pop promotes gay rights in new music video". The Guardian. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  5. Gillert, Sonja (19 February 2014). "Homosexualität: Iranische Ikone bricht ein Tabu". DIE WELT. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  6. "A beloved Iranian singer releases a music video in support of gay rights". The World from PRX. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. Kester, Sacha (19 February 2014). "Iraanse popkoningin komt op voor homorechten". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  8. Dónzis, Aron. "Iranian diva sings for gay rights". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  9. "WATCH: Pop Diva Breaks Barriers With Incredible 'Valentine' To The LGBT Community". HuffPost. 18 February 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  10. "Rolando Villazón's Wild Western wows Leipzig - video Dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  11. "Man of My Time". Audible. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
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