Washington — Tehran-born actress Shohreh Aghdashloo became the first Iranian American to win an Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, receiving the honor September 20, 2009, for her supporting role in the original HBO miniseries House of Saddam.
It was only six years earlier that she hit another historic cultural mark by becoming the first Iranian-American and Middle Eastern woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the movie House of Sand and Fog.
Aghdashloo began acting in the Theater Workshop in her native Iran in the early 1970s. She performed in numerous plays and also gained acclaim for her film work in Gozaresh (The Report). In 1978, her performance in Sooteh Delan (Broken Hearts) established her as one of the youngest leading actresses in Iran.
