Reza Fazeli

Reza Fazeli — Biography

Reza Fazeli worked as an actor and director in Iranian cinema, and after the Islamic Revolution the Iranian artist became a prominent opposition figure, making political broadcasts from abroad against the new government. His life is remembered in two parts: a filmmaker and performer of the 1960s and 1970s, and, from 1979 on, an activist running political documentary and television work. He died in California on 13 April 2009.

Born in Tehran, Fazeli served for a year in the Imperial Iranian Air Force before leaving the country in 1953. He lived around the Persian Gulf, in Lebanon and in Egypt, and then spent eight years in France, Germany, Britain and the United States. After years of education and work he returned to Iran and took part in both domestic and international productions as an actor and director. He kept acting in films such as Hell Under My Foot (1964), Almas 33 (1967), Find a Place to Die (1968), Ali Soorchi (1972), Pishkesvat (1976) and Journey of the Stone, while Mashti Mamdali's Car (1974) is the film he directed.

After the revolution he left Iran and founded a company, KVC, that produced political documentaries against the new government. From 2002 to 2005 he worked at AZADI TV ("Freedom TV"), a US-based broadcaster opposing the clerical government, and then continued his political activity at the Persian-language channel Pars TV.