FLYING HIGH

Iranian actor Ershadi8217;s career takes off with The Kite Runner

As Homayoun Ershadi tells it, he was an architect in Iran driving down the streets of the capital, Tehran, one day when he pulled up to a red light and heard someone tapping on his window. He turned to see one of Iran8217;s most famous filmmakers. 8220;I am Abbas Kiarostami,8221; the man said, 8220;I want to do a film, and I want you to be in it.8221;

The following day, the director arrived at Ershadi8217;s office. Three weeks later, he was chosen to appear as8212;what else?8212;a driver in 19978217;s A Taste of Cherry. The chance encounter at the stoplight would take Ershadi, who studied architecture at the University of Venice in Italy, graduating in 1970, into a second career acting in films, TV series, made-for-television movies and short films. Today, the 60-year-old actor is co-starring in one of the season8217;s highly anticipated dramas: The Kite Runner.

Based on Khaled Hosseini8217;s best-selling novel, The Kite Runner, directed by Marc Forster, tells the story of two childhood friends whose lives are torn apart in a divided Afghanistan on the verge of war in 1975. After two decades in America, one boy, Amir, returns to his homeland, in a quest to find his friend8217;s son.

Ershadi is cast as Baba, a Kabul businessman who flees to the US with his young son. Ershadi said he didn8217;t think he was right as Baba when Forster invited him to Kabul to read for the part. 8220;I thought the book was fantastic, but I8217;m shorter8221; than the character in the book, he noted. The director asked him to read a section of the screenplay. Forster said the power and simplicity that Ershadi brought during that reading convinced him that he was right for the part.

8220;The thing that is so amazing about him is that he is so natural,8221; Forster said of Ershadi. 8220;A lot of actors rely on their technique, and he only relies on his heart.8221; To hear Forster and Ershadi talk, they simply relied on each other8217;s innate competence in getting the job done.

Ershadi has not given up architecture, explaining that he developed high-rises and town houses in Vancouver, the Canadian city where he lived for years after fleeing the revolution in Iran in the late 1970s. His children and grandchildren still reside in Vancouver, although he returned to Iran in 1991. He owns an art gallery in Tehran with his sister and brother. He avoids discussing the political situation in his country, and is eager to answer any question put to him, 8220;as long as they don8217;t ask me about politics8221;.
-Robert W. Welkos LAT-WP