Iran

(the Islamic Republic of) Iran

Human name: Shirin (Sharon) Rezadi

Age: 36

Birthday: April 1st

Personality: Rezadi is a friendly woman, if a bit reserved. She has a preference for listening, rather than talking, and analyzing rather than empathizing. A lot of this is taken for either arrogance or shyness, but really she’s just quiet. She regards paparazzi with indifference, if not outright scorn. (Unless they are polite and not looking for tabloid fodder.)

Toward her actors, she is only a little warmer at first. She’s very much like a female Stanley Kubrick then, enforcing method acting to get it just right, having multiple takes done to see which one is the best, and otherwise pushing them to their limits. Most of it is just to see what those limits are, and to get a great picture of course. She does praise her actors when it’s obvious that’s the best they can do, very kindly and proudly like a parent. You really have to prove to her if a scene just doesn’t work. After that initial limit finding period, she opens up considerably, sometimes showing pictures of her three children.

Many of her films are darker than you would expect of a plot line by a different screenwriter/director. Her comedies are very few and far between. She enjoys directing miniseries when she’s attached to adaptations. She also has a running sexual interpretation in her films, as well as BDSM references, all which she will deny when asked about. Vehemently.

A lot of this is due to her profession during college, which she keeps a well-guarded secret, except for a riding crop she keeps with her on set, which she says is because she was an equestrian and likes to gesture with it, however one must question what kind of life would create such a composed and domineering woman.

History: Born in Shiraz to Massoud Rezadi and Anoosheh Amiri, Shirin was the eldest of four children. She was a bright child, a very "good girl" according to relatives. Always willing to talk and play for hours and hours, only stopping when human necessities got in the way. She came to the United States in 1980, after the Iran-Iraq War broke out. Her parents divorced the month before, over an arguement over whether or not they should leave the country. Her mother argued that they stay and protect their home from the invading Iraqis, but her father was against it completely. Before Shirin and her family left for the United States, the last known place her mother had been was in Khorramshahr, having joined the militia there.

Her father eventually got a job teaching biology at UCLA, after the anti-Persian sentiment, left over from the Hostage crisis, died down. Life was uneventful, except for her father's remarriage and the birth of her half-sister, Ava, in 1987.

In 1990, Shirin met a man while touring film schools. She had always been very shy, and hadn't dated much in high school, so when this man asked her out, she took it. A year later, she was pregnant with her first child, Anahita Rezadi. A few months later, the child's father was killed by a car bomb. Some believe Shirin to have had a motive, but the investigation turned up nothing to implicate her.

Having nearly been disowned, Shirin sought work in numerous places, eventually finding herself looking into the sex industry. She had heard hushed whispers about dungeons around her school and eventually, best friend in tow, set to find out what they were talking about.

It was in 1994 that she met her second beau, a fellow film student from the UAE. They hit it off and eventually talked about marriage. When she found herself pregnant (once more, she was a horribly naiive girl), it almost became essential that they wed. But, for undisclosed reasons, she turned him down and decided to raise her children on her own.

She reached recognition in 1997 for a screen play she wrote while recuperating in the hospital.

Since then, she has directed many films.

Job: Director, Producer, and Screenwriter.

Talents: Shirin has a knack for people. She understands them well enough to guess at their limits and get them to it, as well as how far is too far. She also enjoys sewing and weaving rugs, usually giving them to the Salvation Army, relatives, or actors who’ve put up with her nagging for more than two movies.

Also, she’s pretty gifted as a director and screen writer, allowing for adlibbing and taking criticism. She also practiced Kung Fu To’a as a child, but let that fade into the background of her life when she had her first child, Anahita, in 1991.