Nazanin Boniadi

Nazanin Boniadi is an Iranian-born, Screen Actor’s Guild and AACTA Award-nominated actress and a renowned activist. Her TV and film credits most notably include How I Met Your Mother, Homeland, Counterpart, and Hotel Mumbai. She will be starring in Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

In addition to her passion for the arts, Boniadi is a dedicated human and women’s rights advocate with a focus on Iran. From 2009-2015, she served as a spokesperson for Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) and continues to partner with the non-profit. Boniadi’s advocacy work has taken her to Capitol Hill, the British Parliament, the Bundestag, and most recently the United Nations in New York.

In 2018, she was selected by People Magazine as one of their ‘25 Women Changing the World.’ In 2020, she received the Freedom House Raising Awareness Award, and she recently received the 2022 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She is the recipient of the 2023 Society of American Law Teachers M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award.