Shohreh Aghdashloo won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress for HBO's
House of Saddam and was the first Iranian actress ever to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in
House of Sand and Fog. She has starred in the Fox series
24 and has been featured in a number of television shows and films. Born and raised in Tehran, she now lives in Los Angeles. Her new memoir is
The Alley of Love and Yellow Jasmines.
From her Q & A with Katie Baker for
The Daily Beast:
You lived through the days of the shah, then you saw the revolution, you lived in exile, you had this incredible life in Hollywood. As you were writing your memoir, was there one particular part of your life that was the hardest to go back to or remember? Or was there one that was the most pleasurable to remember for you?
Oh, yes. Leaving my German shepherd, my dog, behind—Pasha. That is still the hardest one of all. My daughter just finished her studying at Chapman University. She’s now a graduate of Chapman and she wants to be a film director. She was ... living away from us 
for three years. I was bringing her home yesterday, and all of a sudden ... she turned around looked at the door of the home that she was living in for three years, and she started crying. And she said, “Oh, Mom, I’ve gotten so emotional and I don’t know why.” I said, “Tara, I was your age when I left not only my home, but also my country and my beloved dog, and just as you did, I turned around and looked at it when I was leaving the border ... Imagine, you have to leave your home, your parents, your family, your friends, and basically start a journey that you have no idea what is going to happen in this journey the day after.” But you just hit the road and start a new life.
You left Iran just after Khomeini came to power. How long has it been since you’ve been back to your country?
It was actually the day before he came.
Because they closed the airport?
They closed the airport, and then they opened the airport for him, and I thought, as soon as he arrives, they may close the airport again. That’s why I had to leave in a hurry. But I ...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue
