Narges Rashidi

Narges Rashidi is an American-German actress of Iranian descent.

Early life

Rashidi was born in Khorramabad, Iran. Her father was an army colonel and her mother is a housewife. She lived in Tehran at the time of the Iran–Iraq War.
Rashidi moved with her family to Turkey and then Germany when she was seven. She grew up in Bad Hersfeld, Germany. She was introduced to acting by the summer theatre festivals in the town.

Rashidi has appeared in many independent films and television productions, starting with the experimental film Venussian Tabutasco by Daryush Shokof in 2004.
Rashidi received international recognition and widespread acclaim for her starring role in the 2016 film Under the Shadow by Babak Anvari, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Variety cited her as "a favorite breakthrough performance" at Sundance. The magazine hailed her "intense yet fine-grained work... as a fiercely intelligent, progressive-minded Iranian woman infuriated by the direction of her country since the Islamic Revolution," noting, "Rashidi plays her character like a musical instrument going slowly out of tune; it's a performance rich in both motherly love and scream-queen abandon."
Rashidi plays Lale in the 2020 British TV series [Gangs of London (TV series)|Gangs of London]. In June 2024, Deadline Hollywood reported that Rashidi had been cast alongside Joseph Fiennes in a BBC drama as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband Richard Ratcliffe.

Rashidi lives in Los Angeles. She is married to Christian Straka, a former professional tennis player. She speaks Persian, German and English.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Die Geschichte Mitteldeutschlands	Orientalische Frau des Grafen von Gleichen	Episode: "Ehe zu dritt - Die Frauen des Grafen von Gleichen"
2007	KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst	Nuran	Episode: "Fragen der Ehre"
2008	Schimanski	Laura	Episode: "Schicht im Schacht"
2009	Engel sucht Liebe	Ayse	TV movie
2012	Ein Fall für zwei	Ayshe	Episode: "Mord im Callcenter"
2012	'	Faiza	TV movie
2013	Nachtschicht	Dalida Abdullah	Episode: "Geld regiert die Welt"
2014–2015	Löwenzahn	Banu	4 episodes
2015	Sibel & Max	Elif	Episode: "Schief gewickelt"
2015	'	Dalida Medjoub	TV movie
2016–2018	Never Too Late For Justice	Samira Vaziri	22 episodes
2017	The [Girlfriend Experience (TV series)\|The Girlfriend Experience]	Darya Esford	5 episodes
2017	Reich oder tot	Dalida Medjoub	TV movie
2019	Anatomy of Evil	Leila Nymann	Episode: "Sehnsucht"
2019	Hanna	Sima	2 episodes
2020–present	Gangs of London	Lale	20 episodes
2025	Prisoner 951	Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe	Post-production

Best Breakthrough Actress award, A2Z, New York Independent International Film & Video Festival, 2007.