Iranian of the Day

Solmaz Niki-Kermani is an actress, writer, director and the founder of Mahtab Entertainment. She was born in Iran, where she discovered her love for the arts. An honor student in Mathematics, she won a national best actress award for a play taped for Iranian cable TV at the age of 16. Less than a year later, Solmaz moved to the US to study at Harvard University, at which she earned a degree in Liberal Arts. Soon after graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and met casting director and producer, Russell Boast, who encouraged her to write her first screenplay, "To the Moon". The film went into production months later and was helmed by English director Damian Harris, son of the late actor Richard Harris.