Yassamin Maleknasr

Yassamin Maleknasr (also spelled Yasman Malek-Nasr, born 19 May 1955, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian filmmaker and actress. Career Yassamin Maleknasr is the first Iranian woman filmmaker to graduate from the University of Southern California (USC) in Film and Television Production. She did post-graduate work in Drama at Towson State University in Maryland. She made her first short film, Jazz Ballet in the U.S.; then after several years working at American film companies, she returned to Tehran to perform in Dariush Mehrjui's film Sara (1993) for which she won a "Best Supporting Actress" award from the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran. She has also acted in a number of other Iranian features. In 1995, Maleknasr directed and acted in her first feature film, "Common Plight".