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" The people of Iran have had to endure repressive laws that have stifled their freedom of speech and religion for too long. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Religion
People
Long
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" I retweet Amnesty International tweets a lot. It isn't just, 'This person is incarcerated unjustly.' It's also, 'This person was just released.' Those are the victories we work toward, so if we don't inform people of the victories, it does become doom and gloom. "
Nazanin Boniadi
People
Work
Person
" To have art suppressed is very dangerous to society. "
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Society
Dangerous
Art
" Our rights are interconnected and inseparable. When freedom of expression is threatened, the rights to freedom of association and assembly, of thought, conscience and religion, are also compromised. "
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Thought
Religion
Freedom
" The thing that I love about 'Scandal' is every character, it's not clear if they're good or bad. Everyone is both good and bad. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Good And Bad
Love
Bad
" I entered the acting world at a time when there was a higher demand for Middle Eastern actors in the post-9/11 world, and yeah, the roles weren't great. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Time
Higher
Acting
" In 2013, I started playing Fara Sherazi on 'Homeland.' I love playing her, not just because she's a strong woman, but because for the first time, a Muslim woman is being portrayed on television as a regular person, rather than a cliche or collection of stereotypes. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Love
Strong
Strong Woman
" I decided to start acting in my mid-twenties. I studied pre-med, and I have a bachelor's degree in Biology, so when I decided to pursue a different career, I got a lot of, 'What on earth are you doing?' But, I gave myself a year and thought, 'You know what, I'm going to just beat the odds.' "
Nazanin Boniadi
Start
Earth
Know
" It's bizarre to be given an award for being empathetic and kind, which is what we all should be. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Bizarre
Being
Award
" I feel really connected to antiquity for some reason. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Reason
Connected
I Feel
" A celebrated and hugely popular actress in her native Iran, Ahangarani first landed on the radar of the Iranian authorities for her open support of opposition figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi, which led to her arrest in July 2009 in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election in Iran. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Election
First
Her
" It's tougher for women than men in Hollywood, period, if you ask me. As with most professions, women have generally not found equality with men when it comes to income and influence. There aren't as many female directors, producers, and writers, which translates to fewer complex roles for women. "
Nazanin Boniadi
You
Men
Women
" I was very successful, and I graduated with honors. And then I called my dad, who still lives in London, and I said, 'Dad, thanks for college, but I'm going to go act now.' It didn't go over very well. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Successful
Said
Now
" As far as the 2009 elections go, there has been a serious crackdown on human rights in Iran, a clampdown on the media and the wrongful imprisonment of journalists. So it seems what's happening is the government is going after people who have a voice, people who change society or public opinion. "
Nazanin Boniadi
People
Government
Change
" For me, the struggle for women's human rights began the moment I was born in Tehran at the height of the Iranian Revolution, a time when the status of women was quickly deteriorating. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Me
Born
Time
" The entertainment industry isn't a line of work encouraged in the Persian culture. When I called my dad to say I wanted to quit medicine, there was about three minutes of silence. I'm not sure he knew what to do with himself! "
Nazanin Boniadi
Three
Silence
Medicine
" I think a culture can really be elevated through the arts, and it's always a dream come true when I come across roles that enable me to fuse my love of storytelling with my passion for activism and raising social awareness. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Culture
Dream
Love
" In real life, too, women love to be that girl who tames the bad boy. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Life
Girl
Love
" My human rights activism has been widely met with encouragement and support. Ahangarani should earn plaudits, not only for her cinematic achievements, but also for her humanitarian deeds and her commitment to increased rights and freedoms for all. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Her
Encouragement
Support
" While awareness-building is a crucial first step, cohesive efforts are needed to translate this into real-world change. "
Nazanin Boniadi
First Step
Step
Efforts
" Belgian chocolate is my weakness. I like over 72 percent cacao, which shows you how much of a dark chocolate snob I am. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Chocolate
I Am
Weakness
" Jason Rezaian, held for 544 days in Iran, was not a spy but rather a 'Washington Post' journalist whose work aimed to increase cultural understanding between Iran and the world. "
Nazanin Boniadi
World
Understanding
Washington
" Old-school Dire Straits songs are on heavy rotation: 'So Far Away,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and of course 'Sultans of Swing.' "
Nazanin Boniadi
Heavy
Away
Far
" First of all, I'm Middle Eastern; I'm Iranian, so to be playing a leading role in a big Hollywood movie, I think, is possibly one of the first times. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Hollywood
First
Big
" Dance connects us to the musicality of life and to one another. No one should be denied such basic pleasures. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Life
Us
Basic
" Medicine, anything academic, is a very Persian Iranian route to take in life, in one's career. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Career
Anything
Medicine
" As an actress, I value and rely on peaceful self-expression, not only in my daily life, but also in my professional work. This is particularly true, as my commitment to the promotion of human rights is an integral part of my calling as an artist. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Work
Commitment
Life
" Frances Conroy - brilliant, brilliant actress. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Brilliant
Actress
" I do think faith is important when it introduces positivity into your life and you see it with love in your heart because there's so many people who unfortunately use faith for detrimental things or to justify detrimental actions. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Faith
Heart
Life
" When President Hassan Rouhani was elected in Iran in 2013, he welcomed back the far-flung children of Iran. But one by one, they have been arrested and imprisoned upon their return, a fate that has made me increasingly reluctant to risk going back to a homeland I've not seen since 1992. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Risk
Fate
Going
" My parents realized the dangers of raising a daughter in a social, political, and legal climate that was growing increasingly oppressive toward women and girls. Although they fled to London when I was just three weeks old, the challenges facing women's rights in Iran became ingrained in my social consciousness. "
Nazanin Boniadi
Women
Daughter
Challenges