Triumph of a person, a people

In 1978, Shohreh Aghdashloo, along with many others, left her native Iran just as it was on the brink of Islamic revolution. At the time, she was a famous actress there, but in more than two decades her name has never appeared in an Iranian publication; when she emigrated, her name was stricken from all cultural records, banned from all newspapers.

Until now.

On the coffee table of her home in Calabasas, Aghdashloo proudly displays an issue of Hambastagi (Solidarity), which her mother, who still lives in Iran, sent to her. Pointing to where her name was printed in Farsi, she gleefully declares, “At last, after 25 years!”

When the Tehran-born Aghdashloo (pronounced Agh-DASH-loo) received a best supporting actress nomination from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her role in “House of Sand and Fog,” even Iranian newspapers felt obliged to acknowledge it. But only so far: Next to the paragraph about Aghdashloo is a picture of “Sand and Fog” director Vadim Perelman and costar Ben Kingsley (who is up for a lead actor award); the newspaper would not publish the actress’ photograph.

It doesn’t bother her, much, because in the wake of her nomination, as well as supporting actress honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and New York Film Critics Circle, Aghdashloo has found herself the standard-bearer for a population thirsty for uplifting news.

Recently, Aghdashloo appeared on several call-in television programs on Farsi-language Jaam-e-Jam, where for more than a decade she had her own weekly segment, providing political and social commentary. (Jaam-e-Jam broadcasts locally on Channel 18 and via satellite throughout the world.) The response was internationally overwhelming.

“All these young girls, they called from Iran, from Sweden, from London, from all over,” Aghdashloo says. “They cried, I cried. This big family of Iran has been scattered across the world, and they are all excited over this, and that makes me even more proud and more excited.

“My success is also the success of the Iranian girl still in Tehran,” she adds. “When she sees me or reads about me, she realizes that she shouldn’t give up hope for a better future, for freedom, for democracy.”

Several hundred thousand Iranians live in the Los Angeles area, making it the largest Iranian community outside of the Middle East. Most left Iran in the wake of the revolutions, and every one of them, it seems, has embraced Aghdashloo’s accomplishment as in some way her or his own.

“In the last 20 years, whenever Iranians have been mentioned, it’s bad,” says television director Reza Badiyi, who came to the United States in 1955. For this reason, Aghdashloo’s recognition is particularly resonant. “This is the thing with Iranians,” he adds. “When one of them achieves something, there is pride for everyone. And the nomination shows that Shohreh belongs now not only to Iranians. She’s been accepted by another society. That’s very important too.”

It is interesting that this positive Iranian role model is a woman, especially coming on the heels of October’s Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Iranian activist attorney Shirin Ebadi for her human rights work. The oppression of women is one of the more glaring shortcomings of the present Iranian regime, but second-class citizenship predates the Islamic revolution and in some cases continues to exist among Iranian Americans.

Debbie Adhami, a thirtysomething businesswoman, was born in the USA and raised by “liberated and Westernized parents,” but she feels the pressure of an environment she describes as still closed where women are concerned. “It is still very much who your father is and who you marry that identifies us,” she says. “We place obstacles and limitations on ourselves within our own community. To see an Iranian woman break down these barriers, it’s more than just inspirational.”

Aghdashloo has put a public face on a group of people who, since the revolution, have felt they were living in the shadows. “Most Iranians in Los Angeles are people in exile,” says journalist Homa Sarshar, who came here in 1978 and has known Aghdashloo for nearly 20 years. “Everybody is thinking, if an Iranian woman gets up on that stage, she can deliver our message to the world. When I first spoke to Shohreh after the nomination, I said to her, ‘Seventy million Iranians are writing your acceptance speech.’ ”

Aghdashloo has no problem sharing her glory. “If I am lucky enough to be going up those stairs, it is Iran going up those stairs,” she says. “Obviously, I would thank the academy for hearing the voice of the voiceless [Iranian women], but,” she adds pointedly, “I cannot turn political on Oscar. That is purely artistic.”

When it comes to what to wear on the big night, Iranian women are sharing their fashion opinions as well. “There really is no such thing as Iranian dress,” the actress says. “We do have tribal dresses, but if I wear one, I would be saying I belong to only one tribe. Besides, we are people who have always been pro-modernization, and we have been wearing Western clothes for hundreds of years.”

The issue was resolved when a friend’s daughter, who works for Valentino, phoned shortly after the nominations were announced. Aghdashloo was invited to the Valentino studio, where she tried on several gowns, decided on one, and then got a call telling her that the designer wanted to create a dress especially for her.

“The only thing I had the courage to ask for was please, please, please, if he can, to remember the warm, rich colors we use in our beautiful Persian rugs,” she says.

Aghdashloo’s husband, playwright Houshang Touzie, is also being outfitted by Valentino. As she saunters down the red carpet in her custom-made finery, Aghdashloo will be enveloped not just by the media swarm, but also the global embrace of her compatriots. “I am so happy to be making Iranians feel proud,” she proclaims. “I am living this fantasy with all of them.”

Debbie Adhami echoes that sentiment. “Shohreh has blazed a trail and empowered us to have faith in ourselves,” she says. “We will never forget this. Whatever happens on Oscar night, she’s won. We’ve all won.”