Iranian American starring next to Robin Williams on Broadway
The popular Broadway hit "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" has an Iranian-American star, Aryan Moayed, playing Musa, an Iraqi translator, with Robin Williams. Arian Moayed is an emerging Broadway star that was nominated for Tony Awards this year. Moayed's hard work and diligence was captured by New York Times recently. Eight times a week Moayed, in his Broadway debut, takes to the stage at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York. He is also working for "Goodbar," a successful production of his theater company, Waterwell, and on his debut screenplay, "This Island Made Me."
Moayed, now 31, moved to Chicago with his parents from Iran when he was five. He graduated from the theater departmen at Indiana University in 2002, and moved to New York. he has since flourished in the super-competitive theater industry in New York, thanks to his hard work and passion. Mr. Moayed was selected for "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" after 70 actors were auditioned.
Depicting negative Middle Eastern roles is not appealing to Moayed: "I’m always very picky about brown stuff, I don’t do a lot of film and TV because — terrorists and stuff, I just don’t do that." In 2011, filming is scheduled to begin on Moayed's debut screenplay, "This Island Made Me." The film, which will star Campbell Scott, follows an eleven-year old Iranian immigrant who tries to reunite his family for a concert.
In between shows he squeezes in time with his girlfriend, Krissy Shields, also an stage actor, and their daughters, 2-year-old Olive Joon and 3-month-old Ivy Shireen. Sleep is not exactly a priority for Moayed nowadays.
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