Shohreh Aghdashloo was born in Tehran Iran on May 11 1952. In the 1970s at age 20 she achieved nationwide stardom in her homeland Iran starring in some prominent pictures such as "The Report" directed by the renowed Abbass Kiarostami which won critics awards at the Moscow Film Festival. In 1978 she won wider acclaim and established herself as one of Iran's leading ladies with "Sooteh Delan" (Broken Hearts) directed by the late Ali Hatami.

During the 1978 Islamic revolution, Aghdashloo left Iran for England, completing her education. Her interest in politics and her concern for social injustice in the world, led her to earn a B.A. degree in International Relations.

She continued to pursue her acting career, which eventually brought her to Los Angeles in 1987. She went on to marry actor/playwright Houshang Touzie, performing in a number of his plays, successfully taking them to national and international stages. However it was not easy getting work in Hollywood as a middle eastern actress with an accent, she had roles in some decent though not great films including "Twenty Bucks" "Surviving Paradise" and "Maryam". She had to wait quite some time to get a "Hollywood" break.

And finally, years after having read the acclaimed novel "House of sand and fog", Dreamworks were in the making of bringing the story to the big screen. After having cast Ben Kingsley as Massoud Amir Behrani and Jennifer Connelly in the lead roles, they were looking for a relatively unknown Iranian actress to play Kingsley's wife, Nadi. Shohreh Aghdashloo was duly cast. She stole the limelight and earned herself an Academy award nomination as best supporting actress amongst many other prestigious awards, including the Independent spirit award as best supporting actress in a feature film, The New York and Los Angeles film critics award and others.
The first Iranian and Middle Eastern actress to be nominated for an Oscar. Has a BA in International Relations. She has a daughter named Tara with Houshang Touzie. She played the mother of Jonathan Ahdout's character in House of Sand and Fog and also played the mother of his character in Season Four of the television series 24. Guests of Hotel Astoria was the first movie she made outside of Iran. Has had rhinoplasty. She did her first nude scene at the age of 36, in Guests of Hotel Astoria. Began acting career with Theater Workshops in Iran, where she performed in numerous plays. Has a brother whose name is Shahryar. In 2005 she was appeared on the hit Fox series; "24" playing the murderous matriarch of a Turkish / Muslim family terrorist cell. Though normally reluctant to play terrorists, Aghdashloo was attracted to the complexity of the character, which was exemplified by the contradiction between being a ruthless killer and a loving mother. Though her playing a terrorist did attract criticism, particularly from the Persian and Muslim community, Shohreh steadfastly defended the role. Is the first Iranian actress to crossover into mainstream Hollywood cinema.