Homayoun Ershadi

Homayoun Ershadi (alternatively spelled Homayon Ershadi, Persian: همایون ارشادی; 26 March 1947 – 11 November 2025) was an Iranian actor. He was known for his debut role in Taste of Cherry (1997), and several subsequent Iranian and other films, including European films like Agora or Hollywood films like The Kite Runner and Zero Dark Thirty.

Homayoun Ershadi
همایون ارشادی
Ershadi in 2015
Born	(1947-03-26)26 March 1947 Isfahan, Iran
Died	11 November 2025(2025-11-11) (aged 78) Iran
Alma mater	Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1995–2025
Children	2

Early life and education

Homayoun Ershadi was born in Isfahan on 26 March 1947, and spent his adolescence in Karaj and Abadan.^[1][2] He moved to Italy to study architecture at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice in Venice, graduating in 1970.

Ershadi initially worked in Iran as an architect, but relocated to Canada with his wife following the Iranian Revolution. He and his wife settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he continued work as an architect. Ershadi returned to Iran in 1990 after he and his wife filed for divorce.^[3][4]

Career

Following Ershadi's return to Iran, he settled in Tehran. Ershadi was discovered by director Abbas Kiarostami, while sitting in his car in traffic. Kiarostami approached him and requested him to play the leading role of his film, Taste of Cherry.^[4]

In 2007 he was cast in The Kite Runner, a film about two young boys growing up in Afghanistan.^[4]

Personal life and death

Ershadi's two children live in Vancouver, a place he visited often to see his grandchildren.^[3]

Ershadi died from cancer in Iran on 11 November 2025, at the age of 78.^[5] He was buried at the Behesht-e Sakineh in Karaj. ^[6]

Awards

Ershadi won the Sepanta Awards in 2017 for "Best Actor for Short Film" for his work in Blue Lantern, from the 10th Annual Iranian Film Festival in San Francisco, California.^[7]

Cultural reference

The short story Seeing Ershadi by Nicole Krauss was published in The New Yorker on 5 March 2018. It is about a ballet dancer who watches a film featuring Ershadi and then becomes obsessed with his face.^[8]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Ref.
1997	Taste of Cherry	Mr Badii	Abbas Kiarostami	[9][10]
1998	The Pear Tree		Dariush Mehrjui	[11]
2002	Disturbant		Sirus Alvand
2005	Portrait of a Lady Far Away		Ali Mosaffa	[9]
2006	Color of Friend	Mr Jahangir	Bita Shafipour
2007	The Kite Runner	Baba	Marc Forster	[12]
2008	Aal		Bahram Bahramian
2009	Agora	Aspasius	Alejandro Amenábar	[13]
2011	Facing Mirrors	Pedar	Negar Azarbayjani	[14]
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Hassan Ghul	Kathryn Bigelow
2013	Good to Be Back	Merati	Dariush Mehrjui
2014	A Most Wanted Man	Faisal Abdullah	Anton Corbijn
2014	Ghosts		Dariush Mehrjui
2015	Utopia		Hassan Nazer
2016	Ali and Nino		Asif Kapadia	[15]
2016	Blue Lantern		Reza Yarkhalaji	[16]
2016	The Last Inhabitant	Ibrahim	Jivan Avetisyan	[17]
2017	Lina	father	Ramin Rasouli	[18]
2019–2020	Mannequin	Jamshid	Hossein Soheilizadeh
2020	No Choice		Reza Dormishian
2022	The Town		Ali Hazrati