Ezzatolah Entezami
Ezzatollah Entezami, also spelled Ezzatolah Entezami, (21 June 1924 – 17 August 2018) was a famous Iranian actor. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and died there at age 94. He is buried in the Artists Section of Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.
He began acting on stage in 1941. He studied drama at the University of Tehran and later studied theatre and cinema in Hanover, Germany, graduating in 1958. He started appearing in films in 1969. His first film was The Cow, directed by Dariush Mehrjui, in which he played a simple farmer who loves his cow; after its death, he believes he himself is the cow.
Entezami became one of Iran's best-known actors and is often called the greatest actor in Iranian cinema. He worked with many famous directors, including Mehrjui (eight films) and Ali Hatami (four films), as well as Nasser Taqvaee, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Behrouz Afkhami, and Rakhshan Bani-Etemad.
He won the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor twice at the Fajr Film Festival, for Grand Cinema and The Day of Angel. In October 2006, his work was celebrated at the Iran cultural center in Paris.
Entezami is considered part of Iran's group of "five most important actors" along with Ali Nasirian, Mohammad Ali Keshavarz, Jamshid Mashayekhi, and Davoud Rashidi. His son Majid Entezami is a film score composer. He was married twice: first to Mina Entezami (1944–1960) and later to Flora Roostaei (married in 1970). He had three children.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:33 (CET).