List of Iranian Americans

This is a list of notable Iranian-Americans of all Iranian ethnic backgrounds, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Iranian American or must have references showing they are Iranian American and are notable.

List

Academia/Science

• Alexander Abian, mathematician
• Pardis Sabeti, world-renowned computational geneticist, Associate Professor at Harvard University
• Shahriar Afshar, physicist, namesake of Afshar experiment
• Majid Rafizadeh, political scientist scholar at Harvard University
• George Bournoutian, professor, historian, and author
• Siavash Alamouti, CTO Broad Band and INTEL fellow, inventor of Alamouti Code, code-communication engineer
• Abass Alavi, Professor of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and neurology; University of Pennsylvania.^[1]
• Nima Arkani-Hamed, physicist from Harvard
• Shaul Bakhash, historian, expert in Iranian studies, George Mason University, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History
• Mina Bissell, scientist and biologist, LBL.
• Sarkis Acopian, inventor, industrialist, environmentalist, and humanitarian
• Houchang Chehabi, historian, expert in Iranian studies, Boston University
• Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies, Columbia University in New York.
• Touraj Daryaee, Iranologist
• Richard Danielpour, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
• Sibel Edmonds, former translator who worked as a contractor for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC).
• Nader Engheta, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Nader Pourmand, Professor of biomolecular engineering at the Baskin School of Engineering.
• Haleh Esfandiari, Middle East Scholar
• Nariman Farvardin, Provost of University of Maryland
• Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He served on the Cassini–Huygens and Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission.
• Gholam A. Peyman, Inventor of LASIK eye surgery
• Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Ali Hajimiri, inventor, technologist, and Thomas G. Myers Professor of Electrical Engineering, Caltech.
• Babak Hassibi, Gordon M. Binder/AMGEN Professor of Electrical Engineering, Caltech.
• Payam Heydari, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Irvine.^[2]
• Hamid Jafarkhani, leading communication theorist University of California, Irvine.^[3]
• Ali Javan, physicist, inventor of gas laser, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT.
• Sepandar Kamvar, computer scientist, Stanford University.
• Mehran Kardar, physicist, MIT.^[4]
• Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Founding Director of Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland.^[5]
• Homayoon Kazerooni, professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley,^[6] Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Berkeley Bionics,^[7] inventor of the HULC .
• Ali Khademhosseini, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering ^[8]
• Bahram Mashhoon, General Relativity physicist
• Robert Mehrabian, President of Carnegie Mellon
• Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University.
• Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford University Professor the first female winner of Fields Medal.
• Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design^[9]
• Hamid Mowlana, Director of the Division of International Communication at American University^[10]
• Firouz Naderi, NASA director of Mars project.^[11]
• Majid M. Naini, computer scientist, former Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Rumi expert.^[12]
• Kayvan Najarian, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University.
• Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world, a best-selling author, influential commentator and Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, and a columnist for Bloomberg View.
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher. He is the author of many scholarly books and articles
• Camran Nezhat, Director, Stanford Endoscopy Center for Training & Technology.
• Kaveh Pahlavan, Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
• Behzad Razavi, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• Nouriel Roubini, one of the leading economists of our age, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University and chairman of RGE Monitor
• Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and advocate of reform within Islam.
• Ahmad Salehi, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry], Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
• David B. Samadi, vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ^[13]
• Homayoun Seraji, Senior Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory^[14]
• Ghavam Shahidi, IBM Fellow, Director of Silicon Technology
• Manuchehr Shahrokhi, Professor, California State University,^[15] Founding Editor, Global Finance Journal and Executive Director, Global Finance Association,
• Ray Takeyh, Middle East Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
• Kamran Talattof, Persian Literature and Iranian Culture, Director of Persian Program University of Arizona
• Vahid Tarokh, leading communication theorist Harvard University.^[16]
• Cumrun Vafa, String theorist in Harvard.
• Saba Valadkhan, Biomedical scientist, awarded with the Young Scientist Award
• Ehsan Yarshater, Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Director of Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University,^[17] Founder and Editor in Chief of Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Lotfi A. Zadeh, mathematician and computer scientist, and a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley; father of Fuzzy Logic.
• Mark Zandi, economist and co-founder of Economy.com, now part of Moody's Analytics.
• Doreen Granpeesheh, clinical psychologist and producer of the independent award-winning documentary Recovered: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back
• Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosopher at University of Toronto

Arts/Entertainment

• Ali Ardekani, businessman, game developer, film developer, and Islamic comedian^[18]
• Omid Abtahi, actor
• Ray Aghayan, Emmy Award winning costume designer
• Shohreh Aghdashloo Academy Award-nominated film/television actress^[19]
• Dan Ahdoot, stand-up comedian^[20]
• Jonathan Ahdout, actor^[21][22]
• Morehshin Allahyari, artist^[23]
• Max Amini, comedian
• Mark Amin, film producer
• Aram Avakian, director, editor
• Reza Badiyi, TV director
• Catherine Bell, actress (Iranian mother)
• Nadia Bjorlin, TV/soap opera actress^[24] (Iranian mother)
• Nazanin Boniadi, television and film actress
• Ala Ebtekar, visual artist whose work explores the cultural intersection of contemporary hip hop and traditional Iran.
• Robert Ekhart, film actor and editor-in-chief
• Tanaz Eshaghian, documentary filmmaker
• Siamak Ghahremani, founder of Noor Iranian Film Festival, radio host.
• Nahid Hagigat, illustrator and painter
• Taraneh Hemami, fine artist
• Maz Jobrani, comedian and actor
• Pouran Jinchi, contemporary artist
• Cyrus Kar, film director^[25]
• Bavand Karim, multi-media artist and filmmaker
• Marco Khanlian, actor
• Andre Khabbazi, actor, semi-professional tennis player^[26]
• Nahnatchka Khan, screenwriter and producer^[27]
• Cyrus King, actor^[28]
• Kamshad Kooshan, screenwriter & director
• Rosie Malek-Yonan, actress, author, director, and documentary filmmaker
• Marshall Manesh, actor
• Mozhan Marno, actress
• Shiva Rose McDermott, actress (Iranian father)
• Arian Moayed, Tony nominated actor/director
• Emud Mokhberi, Academy Award nominated director/animator
• Amir Mokri, director of photography
• Amir Naderi, film director
• Amin Nazemzadeh, actor
• Shirin Neshat, visual artist and director
• Ali Nejad, Television Personality/Host
• Nicky Nodjoumi, painter
• Cyrus Nowrasteh, screenwriter and director
• Bijan Pakzad noted fashion and perfume designer
• Adrian Pasdar, actor (Iranian father)
• Nasim Pedrad, actress, comedian
• Artemis Pebdani, actress
• Behnaz Sarafpour, fashion designer
• Sarah Shahi, actress^[29] (Iranian father)
• Ali Sepasyar, actor, Cartoon Network
• Bahar Soomekh, actress^[30]
• Aramazd Stepanian, actor, producer, playwright
• Massy Tadjedin, screenwriter
• Elie Tahari, fashion designer
• Amir Talai, actor
• Shaun Toub, actor
• Bob Yari, Academy Award winning film producer
• Marjane Satrapi, Director and Writer

Business/Technology

• Vahid Alaghband, founder and Chairman Balli Group PLC
• Anousheh Ansari, Cofounder, Prodea systems, Inc.
• Vahe Aghabegians, entrepreneur
• Hamid Akhavan, CEO of Siemens Enterprise Communications.^[31]
• Sardar Biglari, CEO and founder of Biglari Holdings
• J. Darius Bikoff, CEO and founder of Energy Brands
• Shahram Dabiri, video game producer, lead producer of World of Warcraft
• Kamran Elahian, founder and Chairman Global Catalyst Partners
• Arash Ferdowsi, Co-Founder & CTO of Dropbox
• Nasir Gebelli, video game developer, programmer of several Nintendo titles including Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Secret of Mana, and Rad Racer
• Vartan Gregorian, President of The Carnegie Corporation of New York.^[32]
• Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube, VP of Google's web applications
• Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO, Expedia, Inc.
• Omid Kordestani, Former Senior Vice President of Google
• Bobby Yazdani. Founder & Former CEO of Saba Software
• Darius Lahoutifard, Serial Internet Entrepreneur, Author, Inventor
• Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, manufacturer of Bratz dolls
• Manny Mashouf, founder and Chairman of bebe stores
• David Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
• Paul Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
• Bob Miner, co-founder of Oracle Corporation and the producer of Oracle's relational database management system.^[33]
• Ron Najafi, CEO of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals
• Sam Nazarian, CEO of the SBE Entertaintment Group
• Farzad Nazem, former CTO of Yahoo!
• Izak Parviz Nazarian, business mogul and philanthropist
• Mehrdad Nikoonahad, founder & CEO, Nikoo Technology, Inc.
• Pierre Omidyar, founder of e-Bay (born to Iranian parents).^[34]
• Henry D. Sahakian, founder and owner of Uni-Mart
• Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Computer.^[35]
• Ali Rowghani, COO of Twitter
• Hooman Radfar, Founder AddThis
• Fardad Fateri, CEO of International Education Corporation
• Sean Rad, Founder & CEO of Tinder
• Shayan Zadeh, Founder of Zoosk
• Zaya Younan, CEOr of Younan Properties

Literature

• Arion Golmakani. Author of Solacers, Alireza and Welcome to Circuit City.
• Reza Aslan, writer
• Mahnaz Badihian, poet
• Laleh Bakhtiar, writer and scholar
• Najmieh Batmanglij, chef, writer
• Firoozeh Dumas, author 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 (مجید نایینی), writer, poet, translator, speaker
• Ghazal Omid (غزل امید), non fiction political writer, non fiction children book writer, speaker, NGO Executive
• Shahrnoosh Parsipour, writer
• Dalia Sofer, writer
• Mahbod Seraji, writer
• Sholeh Wolpe, poet, editor and literary translator

Media/Journalism

• Sohrab Ahmari, journalist at The Wall Street Journal
• Christiane Amanpour, Anchor of ABC Sunday morning political affairs program, former CNN chief international correspondent
• Davar Ardalan, NPR producer of Tell Me More
• Rudi Bakhtiar, Voice of America employee, former Director of Public Relations for the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), former FOX news anchor, former CNN anchor
• Shmuley Boteach, rabbi, radio and television host, author
• Susie Gharib, Anchor of Nightly Business Report distributed by American Public Television
• Farnaz Fassihi, journalist, Wall Street Journal
• Alireza Jafarzadeh, FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst
• Arash Markazi, journalist, Sports Illustrated
• Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, Time Magazine
• Asieh Namdar, former CNN anchor
• Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Tehran correspondent
• Atoosa Rubenstein, former Seventeen (magazine) and CosmoGIRL! editor-in-chief
• Roxana Saberi, photojournalist whose 2009 arrest in Iran became a cause celebre (Iranian Father)
• Jahan Salehi, President, Agence Global, Inc. syndicate
• Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Music

• Lily Afshar, 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
• Cyrus Bolooki, drummer of New Found Glory
• Rostam Batmanglij, keyboard player of Vampire Weekend, music producer.
• Richard Danielpour, composer, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
• Deep Dish, electronic music group
• Ramin Djawadi, composer
• Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Persian music(two of his works were nominated for Grammy Awards in 2004).
• Vigen Derderian, singer
• Tara Kamangar, pianist and composer
• Bahador Kharazmi,^[36][37] Singer/Songwriter & Producer
• Anousheh Khalili, vocalist
• Daron Malakian, guitarist and vocalist of System of a Down
• Lotfi Mansouri, opera director
• Tony Petrossian, music video director^[38][39]
• Ilya Salmanzadeh, music producer
• Ali Tabatabaee, one of the lead singers of Orange County, California-based pop-punk band Zebrahead
• Kourosh Zolani, composer, soloist and inventor. Zolani is best known for designing and playing the world's only playable Chromatic Santour.

Politics

• Goli Ameri, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, former U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, former U.S. public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and former Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the 1st district of Oregon
• Cyrus Amir-Mokri, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions.
• 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
• Cyrus Habib, Democratic Member of the Washington State House of Representatives, first Iranian-American elected to state office.
• Shayan Modarres, 2014 Democratic primary candidate for the U.S. House from the 10th district of Florida
• Ross Mirkarimi, Former Member of San Francisco City Council and current San Francisco Sheriff.
• Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, national expert on immigration policy.
• Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, Director for Iran on the White House National Security Council Staff under President Barack H. Obama^[40]
• Azita Raji, United States Ambassador to Sweden
• David Safavian, disgraced former Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration
• Faryar Shirzad, former Deputy National Security Advisor and White House Deputy Assistant for International Economic Affairs to President George W. Bush
• Bob Yousefian, former mayor of Glendale, California

Sports

• Andre Agassi, professional Tennis player
• Esfandiar Baharmast, World Cup referee, FIFA Instructor, known as Esse Baharmast
• David Bakhtiari, football offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), father is Iranian.
• Eric Bakhtiari, linerbacker in the NFL, father is Iranian.
• Farzad Bonyadi, world champion of poker
• Shawn Daivari, professional wrestler and manager, better known by his stage names of Sheik Abdul Bashir or simply Daivari^[41]
• Yu Darvish, Japanese-Iranian-American MLB player
• Hamid Dastmalchi, world champion of poker
• Antonio Esfandiari, champion poker player
• Steven Beitashour, Iranian-American soccer player
• Alecko Eskandarian, American soccer player
• Andranik Eskandarian, former soccer player
• Matt Ghaffari, Olympic silver-medal winning wrestler
• Afshin Ghotbi, soccer coach, former assistant coach of Korea Republic national football team, Los Angeles Galaxy and Iran national team
• Hamed Haddadi, NBA player, center for Phoenix Suns
• Andre Heidari, American soccer player
• Garnik Mehrabian, soccer player and coach
• T.J. Houshmandzadeh, NFL wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, father is Iranian.
• King Kamali, IFBB pro bodybuilder
• Arsalan Kazemi, NBA player
• George Malek-Yonan, Iran's "Champion of Champions" in Track & Field and Pentathlon
• Omid Namazi, soccer coach
• Amin Abraham Paul Nikfar, Shot Put for the Iranian National Team and 1st Iranian Asian Indoor Champion 2004^[42]
• Amir Sadollah, Professional mixed martial artist and winner of the ultimate fighter 7
• Behdad Sami, First Pro Iranian Basketball player to play in USA history.
• Michael Shabaz, tennis player, 2005 Wimbledon boys' doubles championship
• 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

See also

• Iranian American
• Modern Iranian scientists and engineers
• List of Iranians
• List of British Iranians
• US-Iran relations
• Famous Americans in Iran
• List of Iranian artists
• List of Iranian women artists

References

1. "UPENN Faculty List"
4. "MIT Faculty Webapge"
5. "UMD Persian Studies Homepage"
6. , University of California, Berkeley
7. , Berkeley Robotics and Human Engineering Laboratory
9. "Mohsen Mostafavi on the Harvard GSD Website
10. "AU Faculty Website"
11. "NASA: Architects of Exploration"
12. "NASA: Architects of Exploration"
13. "Mount Sinai Medical Center: David B. Samadi, MD Physician Profile".
14. "JPL Personnel Page"
16. "Harvard Faculty Page"
17. "Columbia Faculty Website"
18. http://www.alistandup.com/bio.html
19. Stanley, John (2006-11-26). "'Nativity' Revisited". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-11-25.
20. "As an Iranian Jew, Ahdoot admits he struggled making friends growing up..."
21. "Jonathan Ahdout: Young Iranian Jewish Film & Television Actor"
22. "His family is Iranian-American, having left Tehran in 1982..."
23. "Artist In Residence, Morehshin Allahyari". Autodesk. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
24. "Nadia Bjorlin, the 24 year old Swedish-Persian, American-born actress..."
25. "where Ted Koppel interviewed Iranian American Zoroastrian, Cyrus Kar..."
26. Andre Khabbazi
27. Kelly Chung Dawson (August 16, 2013). "ABC-TV may air Chinese-American sitcom". China Daily.
29. Iranian.com | Archive Pages
30. "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."
31. "Siemens Enterprise Communications: Hamid Akhavan"
32. "Carnegie People Website"
33. 30th Anniversary corporate document, page 1. Retrieved 2010-07-16
34. "Q&A With eBay's Pierre Omidyar"
35. "Apple Executive Website"
36. "Bahador Kharazmi: Prince of the Underground". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
37. "Bahador Kharazmi on B.B.C Persian 7th Day". B.B.C Persian. Retrieved 2005-01-14.
38. "Garage radio"
39. "Guitar World Article"
40. http://iran.usembassy.gov/nowrouzzadeh.html
41. "Shawn Daivari is Iranian and the foreign language he speaks during his promos is Persian not Arabic."
42. http://asianathletics.org/results/ai-results.htm

External links

• List of top Iranian-American entrepreneurs^[1][2]

1. http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethmacbride/2015/12/20/100-influential-iranian-americans-in-silicon-valley-and-beyond/#1be738984e52
2. http://www.forbes.com/sites/elizabethmacbride/2015/10/29/how-the-mit-of-iran-helps-create-silicon-valley-startups/2/#5cc63bf46d05