LIST OF IRANIAN AMERICANS

This is a 'list of famous Iranian-Americans'.

Contents

Academia/science

Arts/entertainment

Business/technology

Literature

Media/journalism

Music

Politics

Sports

Footnotes

See also

Academia/science

★ Siavash Alamouti, CTO Broad Band and INTEL fellow, inventor of Alamouti Code, code-communication engineer

★ Nima Arkani-Hamed, physicist from Harvard

★ Mina Bissell, scientist and biologist, LBL.[1]

★ Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies, Columbia University in New York.

★ Nader Engheta, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

★ Nariman Farvardin, Provost of University of Maryland

★ Ali Haghani, Professor and Chairman, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland. [2]

★ Ali Javan, physicist, inventor of gas laser, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT.

★ Mehran Kardar, physicist, MIT. [3]

★ Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Founding Director of Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland. [4]

★ Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University.

★ Parviz Moin, Director and Senior Scientist, Stanford University. [5]

★ Roxana Moslehi, DCEG post-doctoral fellow at National Cancer Institute [6], adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University.

★ Hamid Mowlana, Director of the Division of International Communication at American University in Washington D.C., and former President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research. [7]

★ Firouz Naderi, NASA director of Mars project.

★ Majid M. Naini, computer scientist, former Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Rumi expert. [8]

★ Seyyed Hossein Nasr, philosopher, George Washington University.

★ Sepandar Kamvar, computer scientist, Stanford University.

★ Camran Nezhat, Director, Stanford Endoscopy Center for Training & Technology.

★ Kaveh Pahlavan, Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

★ Manuchehr Shahrokhi, Craig Fellow/Professor & Editor of Global Finance Journal California State University, Fresno. Executive Director, Global Finance Association. [9] [10]

★ Hechmat Tabechian, Executive Director of Rochester Academy of Medicine University of Rochester. [11]

★ Vahid Tarokh, leading communication theorist Harvard University. [12]

★ Cumrun Vafa, String theorist in Harvard

★ Ehsan Yarshater, Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Director of Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University [13], Founder and Editor of grand project Encyclopaedia Iranica. [14]

Arts/entertainment

★ Omid Abtahi, actor

★ Shohreh Aghdashloo Academy Award-nominated film/television actress^[1]

★ Dan Ahdoot, stand-up comedian^[2]

★ Jonathan Ahdout, actor^[3][4]

★ Cameron Alborzian, model (Iranian father, English mother)

★ Reza Badiyi, TV director

★ Catherine Bell, actress^[5]

★ Nadia Bjorlin, TV/soap opera actress^[6]

★ Maz Jobrani, comedian

★ Cyrus Kar, film director^[7]

★ Andre Khabbazi - actor, semi-professional tennis player^[8]

★ Rosie Malek-Yonan, actress, author, director, and documentary filmmaker

★ Leyla Milani, model "Deal or No Deal"

★ Hamid Moslehi, Michael Jackson's former main videographer/photographer [22].

★ Amin Nazemzadeh, actor

★ Cyrus Nowrasteh, screenwriter and director

★ Bijan Pakzad, noted fashion and fragrance designer

★ Adrian Pasdar, actor

★ Sarah Shahi, model and actress^[9]

★ Bahar Soomekh, actress^[10]

★ Tami Stronach, dancer, choreographer, actress

★ Bob Yari, Academy Award winner film producer

★ Kayvon Zand, singer, actor, and model ^[11]

Business/technology

★ Anousheh Ansari, first female space tourist, leading telecommunication entrepreneur, and namesake of the X Prize

★ Shahram Dabiri, video game producer, lead producer of World of Warcraft

★ Mike Ebrahimi, President/Co-CEO of Idea Labz, Inc. [25]; President/CFO of Vegas Music Conference, Inc. [26]; Co-Founorang samadider/CEO of Baldwin Enterprises, LLC.

★ Hossein Eslambolchi, AT&T's Chief Technology Officer and the President of Bell Labs. [27]

★ Vartan Gregorian, President of The Carnegie Corporation of New York.[28]

★ Omid Kordestani, Senior Vice President of Google

★ Manny Mashouf, founder and Chairman of bebe stores

★ Yusuf Mehdi, Senior VP, Microsoft

★ Behzad Moslehi, founder/CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors, IFOS® (Intelligent Fiber Optic System)
★
★ [29].

★ Farzad Nazem, CTO of Yahoo!

★ Mehrdad Nikoonahad, founder & CEO, Nikoo Technology, Inc.

★ Pierre Omidyar, founder of e-Bay. [30]

★ Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Computer. [31]
Marshall Manesh " Actor"

Literature

★ Reza Aslan, writer

★ Mahnaz Badihian, poet

★ Najmieh Batmanglij, chef, writer

★ Firoozeh Dumas, writer of ''Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America''

★ Roya Hakakian, writer

★ Rosie Malek-Yonan, author of ''The Crimson Field''

★ Azar Nafisi, writer

★ Majid M. Naini, writer, speaker

★ Vali Nasr, writer, speaker

Media/journalism

★ Christiane Amanpour, CNN chief international correspondent

★ Davar Ardalan, NPR producer of ''Morning Edition''

★ Rudi Bakhtiar, FOX news anchor, former CNN lead anchor

★ Alireza Jafarzadeh, FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst

★ Arash Markazi, journalist, Sports Illustrated

★ Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, Time Magazine

★ Asieh Namdar, CNN news anchor

★ Atoosa Rubenstein, former editor in chief of Seventeen (magazine)

★ Caren Firouz, Chief Photographer, Reuters Pictures, Iran

Music

★ Lily Afshar, female classical guitarist

★ Pouyan Afkary, synthesizer musician, member of Scary Kids Scaring Kids

★ Axiom of Choice, world music group

★ Leila Bela, Avant-garde musician, actress, writer and former member of Pigface

★ Richard Danielpour, musician

★ Deep Dish, dance music group

★ Anousheh Khalili, vocalist

★ Vanik Vartanian, rock musician

★ DJ Nu-Mark, dj for the hip hop group Jurassic Five

Politics

★ Goli Ameri, Republican candidate for United States House of Representatives from the 1st district of Oregon, United States delegate to United Nations Commission on Human Rights

★ Hushang Ansary, former Iranian Minister of Finance and Chairman of National Finance Committee of Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign

★ Michael Benjamin, 1996 Republican candidate for the U.S. House from the 8th district of New York, and 2004 United States Senate Republican Primary candidate from New York

★ Jimmy Delshad, Mayor of Beverly Hills, California

★ George Deukmejian, former Governor of California

★ Ross Mirkarimi, Member of San Francisco City Council from the Green Party.

★ David Safavian, disgraced former Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration

Sports

★ Andre Agassi, tennis player

★ Shawn Daivari, professional wrestler and manager, better known by his stage names of ''Khosrow Daivari'' or simply ''Daivari''^[12]

★ Farzad Bonyadi, world champion of poker

★ Antonio Esfandiari, champion poker player

★ Hamid Dastmalchi, world champion of poker

★ Alecko Eskandarian, soccer player, United States national team^[13]

★ Andranik Eskandarian, former soccer player

★ Afshin Ghotbi, soccer coach, currect assistant coach of Korea Republic national football team

★ T. J. Houshmandzadeh, NFL player (father is Iranian)

★ King Kamali, IFBB pro bodybuilder

★ Ali Khosroshahin, Head Coach of the University of Southern California womens soccer team

★ George Malek-Yonan, Iran's "Champion of Champions" in Track & Field and Pentathelon

★ Michael Shabaz, tennis player, 2005 Wimbledon boys' doubles championship

★ Sanaz Shahbazi, martial arts champion ^[14]

★ Amir Vahedi, professional poker player

★ Leila Vaziri, The current world record holder of the 50 m women's backstroke

★ Khosrow Vaziri, retired professional wrestler, better known by his stage name of ''The Iron Sheik''

★ Esfandiar Baharmast, World Cup referee, FIFA Instructor, known as ''Esse Baharmast''

Footnotes

1. 'Nativity' Revisited John Stanley
2. [15] "As an Iranian Jew, Ahdoot admits he struggled making friends growing up..."
3. [16] "Jonathan Ahdout: Young Iranian Jewish Film & Television Actor"
4. [17] "His family is Iranian-American, having left Tehran in 1982..."
5. [18] "Most people don't know that you're half Iranian. Is it a weird time to have a Middle Eastern background? My grandparents were Muslim, and it's a completely different religion than what we're hearing about right now. It was pretty ugly for a while, but as far as hate crimes go, it seems like that kind of reaction has died down. Thank god."
6. [19] "Nadia Bjorlin, the 24 year old Swedish-Persian, American-born actress..."
7. [20] "where Ted Koppel interviewed Iranian American Zoroastrian, Cyrus Kar..."
8. [21]
9. [23]
10. [24] "Persian Jewish actress Bahar Soomekh earned some serious attention last year when she played a young Iranian in "Crash," the Academy Award winner for best picture."
11. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837806/
12. [32] "Shawn Daivari is Iranian and the foreign language he speaks during his promos is Farsi not Arabic."
13. [33]
14. [34] "US Welterweight Champion Sanaz Shahbazi, an Iranian-American who has won countles gold medals . . ."

See also

★ Iranian American

★ Modern Iranian scientists and engineers

★ List of Iranians

★ US-Iran relations

★ Famous Americans in Iran