I'm 'an Actress With a Mission'

Shohreh Aghdashloo Speaks Up for Justice

Twenty-one years after coming to the United States, Shohreh Aghdashloo has her first leading role in an American movie. She left Tehran before the 1979 revolution, studied international relations in England, came to the States to tour with a political play and has remained in Los Angeles for 21 years, doing bit parts in movies and sitcoms and hitting the big time as Ben Kingsley's wife in "House of Sand and Fog," which won her an Oscar nomination in 2004 and a spot on the TV series "24" as a wealthy housewife who is also a terrorist. In the intense, electrifying "The Stoning of Soraya M.," which opened Friday in Washington and is based on a true story, the husky-voiced Aghdashloo plays an Iranian villager who stands up for her niece, who is accused of adultery and sentenced to death.

-- Dan Zak

This is the second movie of yours that has made me weep. Would you like to apologize for that?

I would love to apologize for that! But let me tell you something: This is a good cry. This is a cry for humanity. This is a cry for all those people who tried not to remain silent and tell the world what happened in that village.

You've done some lighter roles, but you seem to specialize in intensity.

It's my forte. But I love to do comedies. . . . On the other hand, the way I have lived and worked and the nature of my being has turned me into an actress with a mission, and I'm looking for subject matters that would shed light on injustices.

How are you perceived in Iran?

Up until the Oscar nomination, my name was banned. Nobody mentioned my name. They knew what I was doing but never mentioned it officially. But I'll never forget: My mother called and said, "Your name is in the newspapers." And this time it was "our Shohreh Aghdashloo has been nominated."