Azita Ghanizada

Azita Ghanizada (born November 17, 1979) is an American actress.

Azita Ghanizada
Born
Azita Ghanizada

(1979-11-17) November 17, 1979
Kabul, Afghanistan
CitizenshipUnited States
OccupationActress
Years active2004–present

Life and career

Azita Ghanizada's life in American began as a political asylum seeker. Her father's relationships from working at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran afforded her family the opportunity to flee Afghanistan when she was a baby. She learned most of her English from watching American Television in the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C; her fascination to learn from American T.V., combined with the family's regular trips to a local cinema that showed Bollywood movies, and her mother's passionate love of Indian and American film stars, inspired her to become an actress.[1] She relocated to Los Angeles, California and began her on-camera career by working in television commercials and guest starring on popular television shows. Her multi-ethnic appearance has enabled her to remain a chameleon on film and TV.[1] In the Laura Neri film A Kiss on the Nose, Ghanizada played the lead role of Chiara, a performance for which she received a film festival best actress nomination. A few of her notable television guest-starring roles include How I Met Your Mother, Entourage, Veronica Mars, The Mentalist , Bones, Psych, Ghost Whisperer, Castle, and Up All Night.

In 2008, Ghanizada joined the cast of the General Hospital prime-time spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift for season 2 as Dr. Saira Batra, a specialist in holistic medicine.[2] In 2009, Ghanizada appeared HBO's Entourage (season 6, episode 2) and joined the cast of the television pilot Tough Trade starring Sam Shepard and Cary Elwes, from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, and executive producer T Bone Burnett. In 2010, she joined David Strathairn as a primary cast member of the American Syfy Channel series Alphas where she played Rachel Pirzad, a woman with enhanced sensory abilities.[3] Alphas was picked up to series in 2011, but only lasted two seasons. In 2014, she filmed the comedy pilot Ellen More or Less for NBC directed by Peyton Reed. In 2019 she recurred on "Ballers" and "Good Trouble" as Kendra Zahir.

In 2016, Ghanizada appeared in the feature Complete Unknown opposite Rachel Weisz and Michael Shannon, in 2017 she began production on Kevin Smith's feature film Killroy Was Here.[4]. Her latest slate of features include a small role in Gabriella Cooperwaithe's "The Friend," as well as the comedy feature "We Broke Up."

In 2016, Azita founded the MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition, MAAC, and began to advocate on behalf of Middle Eastern North African (MENA) and South Asian (described as "MENASA" and defined as to include those who are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, according to MAAC) performers. She and MAAC member, "Assaf Cohen", spent two years lobbying SAG-AFTRA to include Middle Eastern North African (MENA) as its own diverse category in the producers theatrical contracts. In 2017, their advocacy work proved successful and for the first time in 37 years, a new diversity category was introduced to the 2017 SAG-AFTRA - AMPTP TV/Theatrical contracts.[5] In 2018, MAAC presented the first ever study on MENA performers on PrimeTime TV [6] She actively speaks on representation and inclusion issues in the media, on social media, in business environments and on industry panels.

Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 A Kiss on the Nose Chiara Short film
2007 X's & O's Anita
2009 Why Men Go Gay in L.A.
2010 You, Only Better... Kali Parker
2011 Blood Shot Zahra
2016 Complete Unknown Ramina
2019 The Friend Elizabeth
2021 Killroy Was Here[4] Sarah
Television
Year Title Role Notes
2005 The Closer Neighbor Episode: "Batter Up"
2006 Numb3rs Prita Episode: "Harvest"
2007 Bones Girlfriend Episode: "The Man in the Mansion"
2007 The Wedding Bells Jody Episode: "Wedding from Hell"
2007 Veronica Mars Amira Krimani Episode: "Un-American Graffiti"
2008 General Hospital: Night Shift Dr. Saira Batra 14 episodes
2009 How I Met Your Mother Sexy Female Cop Episode: "As Fast as She Can"
2009 Entourage Kelly Episode: "Amongst Friends"
2009 Psych Mina Episode: "Bollywood Homicide"
2009 Ghost Whisperer Charee Episode: "Devil's Bargain"
2010 Tough Trade Sabina TV movie
2010 Castle Mistress Sapphire Episode: "The Mistress Always Spanks Twice"
2010 NCIS: Los Angeles Rochelle Stanton Episode: "Disorder"
2011 Friends with Benefits Tasi Episode: "The Benefit of Full Disclosure"
2011–2012 Alphas Rachel Pirzad Main role
2012 Body of Proof Annabelle Kip Episode: "Cold Blooded"
2012 Up All Night Natasha Episode: "The Game of Life"
2013 The Mentalist Defiance Episode: "Green Thumb"
2014 Major Crimes Angela Soames Episode: "Frozen Assets"
2014 Ellen More or Less Lucy Pilot
2016 I Love Dick Sahar Episode: "Cowboys and Nomads"
2017 Wisdom of the Crowd Tanya Episode: "User Bias"
2018 9-1-1 Kelly Wesson Episode: "Let Go"
2018 Elementary Dr. Sepi Chamanara Episode: "The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out"
gollark: Indeed.
gollark: yourself.
gollark: Go
gollark: They just have one instruction and lie about it.
gollark: ZISCs are a lie because they generally have one instruction.

References
  1. Grundey, Adam (2011-05-01). "Azita Ghanizada's Rise to Alpha Female". Rolling Stone Middle East. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  2. Krystal, Becky (2008-10-05). "At This Hospital, Virginia Doctors Are In". The Washington Post. Washington DC: WPC. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 26 July 2011. Ghanizada, 29
  3. Radish, Christina (2011-07-08). "Azita Ghanizada Interview ALPHAS". Collider. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  4. McNary, Dave (June 15, 2017). "Kevin Smith Filming Horror Movie 'Killroy Was Here' at Florida College". Variety. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  5. "How Azita Ghanizada has fought for recognition for Mena actors in Hollywood". The National. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  6. Ramos, Dino-Ray (10 September 2018). "Study Shows Bleak Middle Eastern & North African Representation, Reinforced Stereotypes On Primetime TV". Deadline.com. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
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