Payman Maadi

The engineering behind invisible scripts

Payman Maadi was born in New York in 1970, but his name is firmly rooted in the soil of Tehran. Before stepping in front of a camera, he spent nearly a decade writing stories for others, because his training as a metallurgical engineer gave him a precise mental structure for the rhythm of a script.

His first major screenwriting credit came in 2000 with the script for Swan Song. During those years of office work and coffee, he set out to dissect Iran's social reality, never imagining that his face would end up being the best vehicle for telling it.

And the plan changed by accident.

Asghar Farhadi was looking for someone with a specific natural quality for About Elly in 2009. Maadi was not a professional actor, but he took on the challenge of playing Peyman in a film that shook the foundations of modern Iranian cinema.

The Echo of Berlin and the Oscar

His international breakthrough came in 2011 with A Separation. Nader's role demanded exhausting physical restraint, earning him the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival, shared with the rest of the male cast.

That film won the Oscar, and Maadi realized his career no longer belonged only to the borders of his country. But he didn't give up writing or directing.

In 2012, he premiered The Snow on the Pines.

This film marked his directorial debut and won the audience award at the Fajr Film Festival. Maadi proved he knew how to direct actresses with the same delicacy with which he himself had been directed by great masters.

The actor who didn't want to be a stereotype

The American film industry came calling quickly. In 2014, he shot Camp X-Ray alongside Kristen Stewart, playing a prisoner at Guantánamo and steering away from the cardboard villains typical of action cinema.

Hollywood never quite knew what to do with his talent.

He agreed to join the series The Night Of in 2016, playing the lead character's father. It was an eight-episode job for HBO that brought him massive visibility in the Anglo-American market without losing the respect of European critics.

In 2018, he directed his second film, Bomb: A Love Story. It is a drama set during the war between Iran and Iraq, shot on a tight budget with carefully crafted cinematography.

The Staying Power of Physical Cinema

His role in 6 Underground in 2019, directed by Michael Bay, was a commercial detour before he returned to more demanding projects. But Maadi always comes back to the social drama that gave him his voice.

In 2022, he starred in Leila's Brothers. The film competed at Cannes and was banned in Iran by local authorities over its portrayal of the economic and family crisis.

The actor shot Opponent in 2023, playing a wrestler who seeks asylum in Sweden. For this role, he had to undergo severe physical training and learn a new language in just a few months.

Earns $200,000 per project in mid-sized international productions.

In 2024, he signed on for the series The Agency, produced by George Clooney. Filming took place in various locations across Europe and the Middle East under strict confidentiality clauses.

Maadi keeps his main residence in Tehran despite constant work travel. His distribution contract for The Agency includes a compensation clause for post-production delays.