List of people from Tehran
The following notable people were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of Tehran, Iran. Tehran natives are also referred to as Tehranis.
Born in Tehran
1801–1900
- Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í faith
- Subh-i-Azal, Persian religious leader of Azali Bábism
- `Abdu'l-Bahá, former head of the Bahá'í faith
- Morteza Gholi Khan Hedayat, politician and first chairman of the Iranian parliament
- Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Amin al-Soltan, Prime Minister of Iran
- Mehdi Qoli Hedayat, Prime Minister of Iran
- Vossug ed Dowleh, Prime Minister of Qajar era Iran
- Mostowfi ol-Mamalek, politician; Prime Minister on six occasions from 1910 to 1927
- Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, linguist
- Hossein Ala', Prime Minister of Iran in 1951 and from 1955 to 1957
- Abol-Ghasem Kashani, Twelver Shia Muslim cleric and Chairman of the Parliament of Iran
- Mohammad Mosaddegh, politician
- Ali Mansur, Prime Minister of Iran
- Harold Nicolson, English diplomat, author, diarist and politician
- Solayman Haïm, lexicographer, translator, playwright and essayist
- Mirza Javad Khan Ameri, Iranian politician
- Saeed Nafisi, scholar, fiction writer and poet
- Ahmad Matin-Daftari, Prime Minister of Iran
- Gholamreza Rouhani, humorous poet
- Nasrollah Entezam, diplomat
- Mohammad Hejazi, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, translator
1901–1930
- Haj Ali Razmara, military leader and prime minister of Iran
- Sadegh Hedayat, writer, translator and intellectual
- Bozorg Alavi, writer, novelist, and political intellectual
- Ali Amini, politician and writer, Prime Minister of Iran from 1961 to 1962
- Rahi Mo'ayyeri, poet and musician
- Davud Monshizadeh, founder of Sumka
- Shams Pahlavi, the elder sister of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran
- Amir-Abbas Hoveyda, economist and politician
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, king of Iran from 1941 until his overthrow by the Islamic Revolution
- Nasser Moghadam, the fourth and last chief of SAVAK
- Heydar Ghiai, architect
- Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, writer, thinker and social and political critic
- Hassan Ali Mansur, politician, Prime Minister from 1963 to 1965
- Abdollah Mojtabavi, freestyle wrestling athlete
- Sadegh Nezam-mafi, physician and medical pioneer
- Ali Javan, Iranian-American physicist and inventor at MIT
- Simin Behbahani, poet, lyricist and activist
- Ray Aghayan, costume designer
- Masoud Boroumand, footballer
- Ardeshir Zahedi, diplomat
- Lotfi Mansouri, opera director and manager
- Ali Mirzaei, weightlifter
- Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, freestyle wrestler
- Ezzatollah Sahabi, scholar, humanitarian, democracy activist, politician and former Parliament member
- Gholamreza Takhti, Olympic gold medalist wrestler
1931–1950
- Mohammad Ali Fardin, wrestler and actor
- Mostafa Chamran, physicist, politician and commander
- Nasser Givehchi, wrestler
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University and Islamic philosopher
- Forough Farrokhzad, poet and film director
- Iraj Ghaderi, film director and actor
- Bahman Nirumand, Iranian and German journalist and author
- Kamran Diba, architect
- Majid Samii, neurosurgeon and medical scientist
- Hossein Zenderoudi, painter and sculptor
- Bahram Beyzai, film director and playwright
- Parviz Jalayer, weightlifter and Olympic silver medalist
- Dariush Mehrjui, director, screenwriter, producer, film editor
- Kamran Shirdel, documentarist
- Bijan, designer of menswear and fragrances
- Abbas Kiarostami, film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer
- Shahnaz Pahlavi, Princess of Iran
- Barbet Schroeder, film director and producer
- Khosrow Vaziri, professional wrestler and actor
- Ali Hatami, film director, screenwriter, art director and costume designer
- Kamal Kharazi, politician and diplomat
- Younan Nowzaradan, surgeon and TV personality
- Sohrab Shahid-Saless, film director and screenwriter
- Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, philosopher and politician
- Mohammad Nassiri, weightlifter and Olympic gold medalist
- Abdolkarim Soroush, thinker and reformer
- Ali Parvin, football player and coach
- Shahrnush Parsipur, novelist
- Mohammad Reza Adelkhani, footballer
- Mansour Barzegar, wrestler
- Jamal Ejlali, actor
- Shaul Mofaz, Israeli politician
- Firouzeh Vokhshouri, Princess Firouzeh Asem of Jordan
- Ebi, singer
- Nasser Hejazi, football player and coach
- Googoosh, Iranian singer and actress of Iranian Azerbaijani origin
- Hassan Mehmani, Iranian actor and director
1951–1960
- Andranik Eskandarian, Iranian-American footballer
- Mansoor Hekmat, Marxist theorist and leader of the worker-communist movement
- Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian-American actress
- Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, France based Iranian religious scholar
- Parviz Davoodi, hardline conservative politician
- Valentine Moghadam, feminist scholar, sociologist, activist and author
- Maryam Rajavi, politician
- Daryush Shokof,
- Mary Apick, Iranian-Armenian stage, television and film actress
- Hadi Teherani, German-Iranian architect and designer
- Darius Khondji, Iranian-French cinematographer
- Azar Nafisi, writer and professor of English literature
- Feizollah Nasseri, weightlifter
- Goli Ameri, Iranian-American diplomat and businesswoman
- Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosopher and academic
- Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, politician and army general
- Mohsen Makhmalbaf, film director, writer, film editor and producer
- Abbas Maroufi, novelist and journalist
- Andranik Madadian, Armenian-Iranian singer-songwriter and actor
- Bita Farrahi, actress
- Farzad Bonyadi, professional poker player
- Majid Majidi, film director, film producer and screenwriter
- Ahmad Bourghani, politician, journalist, writer and political analyst
- Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs
- Vali Nasr, American academic and author
- Reza Pahlavi, crown prince of Persia
- Cumrun Vafa, Iranian-American leading string theorist from Harvard University
1961–1970
- Parastou Forouhar, installation artist
- Rita, Israeli pop singer and actress
- Hassan Bastani, Iranian playwright
- Camila Batmanghelidjh, Iranian-born author and charity executive in the United Kingdom
- Amir Ghalenoei, football coach and player
- Farahnaz Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- Shaun Toub, film and television actor
- Philippe Blasband, filmmaker; writer in French language from Belgium
- Rosie Malek-Yonan, actress, author, director and activist of Assyrian ethnicity
- Marina Nemat, author
- Afshin Ellian, Iranian-Dutch professor of law, philosopher, poet and critic of political Islam
- Reza Mirkarimi, film writer and director
- Maryam Namazie, secularist and human rights activist, commentator and broadcaster
- Ali-Reza Pahlavi, member of the Pahlavi Imperial Family of Iran
- Jasmin Tabatabai, Iranian-German actress
- Mani Haghighi, filmmaker, screenwriter and actor
- Abbas Jadidi, wrestler
- Azam Ali, Iranian American singer and musician
- Amir Ansari, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Prodea Systems
- Shokufeh Kavani, contemporary painter, translator and artist
- Leila Pahlavi, youngest daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran
- Sharam, Iranian-American progressive house DJ and producer
1971–1980
- Arash Hejazi, novelist, fiction writer and translator of literary works from English and Portuguese into Persian
- Niki Karimi, actress, director and screenwriter
- Mansour, Iranian Azerbaijani artist
- Alireza Mansourian, football coach and player
- Leila Hatami, actress
- Tami Stronach, Israeli American dancer and choreographer
- Ali Tabatabaee, rapper, singer, musician in band Zebrahead
- Cassandra Clare, American author of young adult fiction
- Kirill Pirogov, Russian film and theatre actor and composer
- DJ Aligator, Iranian-Danish producer and DJ
- Omid Nouripour, Iranian-German politician
- Bahar Soomekh, Iranian-American actress
- Vahid Hashemian, footballer and coach
- Roxana Manouchehri, visual artist
- Mahnaz Afshar, actress
- Arash, Iranian-Swedish singer, entertainer and producer
- Mehdi Mahdavikia, football player
- Marsha Mehran, novelist
- Maryam Mirzakhani, mathematician
- Laleh Seddigh, female race car driver
- Ameneh Bahrami, woman blinded in an acid attack
- Antonio Esfandiari, professional poker player
- Ramin Karimloo, Iranian-Canadian actor and singer
- Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Iranian curator and visual artist
- Navíd Akhavan, Iranian-German actor
- Tarlan Rafiee, Iranian curator and visual artist
- Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-born British American actress
- Samira Makhmalbaf, filmmaker and script writer
- Narges Rashidi, American-German actress
- Sami Yusuf, British singer-songwriter, composer and producer of Iranian Azerbaijani descent
1981–2000
- Masoud Kazemi, journalist and human rights activist
- Nasim Pedrad, Iranian-American actress and comedian
- Amir Hossein Sadeghi, football player
- Sirvan Khosravi, pop singer and composer
- Amir Shapourzadeh, Iranian-German footballer
- Vahid Talebloo, football goalkeeper
- Andranik Teymourian, footballer
- Elshan Moradi, chess grandmaster
- Gegard Mousasi, Dutch mixed martial artist
- Behrang Safari, Iranian-Swedish footballer
- Fatemeh Behboudi, photojournalist
- Ashkan Dejagah, professional footballer
- Mohammad Bagheri Motamed, taekwondo practitioner
- Omid Abolhassani, football player banned for four years
- Alireza Haghighi, goalkeeper
- Marjan Kalhor, alpine skier
- Hana Makhmalbaf, filmmaker
- Mohammad Parvin, football player
- Atousa Pourkashiyan, chess player
- Mohammad Kiadarbandsari, alpine skier
- Milad Mohammadi, footballer
- Dalita Avanesian, Armenian singer, participant in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Full date unknown
- Maryam Eslamdoust, politician and trade union official
- Omid Habibinia, journalist and organization founder
- Hashem Yekezareh, engineer and industrial executive
- Gale Paridjanian, guitarist and co-founder of Turin Brakes
Lived in Tehran
- Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, King of Persia from 1848 to 1896
- Shirin Ebadi, lawyer
- Majid Entezami, musician and composer
- Kayhan Kalhor, Kamancheh player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Iranian traditional music
- Hadi Saei, taekwondo athlete