Homayoun Ershadi, one of Iran’s most internationally recognized actors who rose from a career in architecture to global movie fame through Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry and later The Kite Runner, has died at the age of 78.
Ershadi passed away on November 11 at the age of 78 after battling cancer, according to Iranian state media.
Born in Isfahan in 1947, Ershadi began his professional life as an architect, never imagining he would one day become the face of one of Iranian cinema’s most celebrated films.
His unlikely entry into the film industry became almost cinematic itself. As Ershadi recalled in interviews, world renowned director Abbas Kiarostami noticed him while both were stuck in Tehran traffic and asked if he would consider acting.
That spontaneous encounter led to Taste of Cherry (1997), which went on to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Speaking years later about the experience, Ershadi told Media Max: “We were sitting in my car with Kiarostami, eating ice cream when I asked him about my character. He said, ‘Your character is an architect from Italy.’ I was also an architect working in Italy. I wore my own clothes in the film, and that was my car I drove. During the dialogues there was Kiarostami standing in front of me, instead of the actor. I was not playing a role; I was just being myself.”
Ershadi also once remarked with pride, “Kiarostami did not work with professional actors. The non-professional actors of his films did not continue their careers later. I can say I am the only one who kept acting after his film.”
Following his breakout performance, Ershadi devoted himself fully to cinema, appearing in dozens of productions in Iran and abroad. His most acclaimed international role came a decade later as Baba in Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner (2007), which brought him to the attention of Western audiences and received multiple nominations, including at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.
He went on to appear in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man (2014), and Asif Kapadia’s Ali and Nino (2016).
In his later years, Ershadi often reflected on the bridge between architecture and acting, saying both required “a sense of structure, patience, and creativity.”
His quiet, dignified presence on and off screen left a lasting mark on Iranian and world cinema alike.
