Mina Kavani: Movies & Box Office

Mina Kavani, born Mina Khosrovani on May 23, 1989 in Tehran, Iran, comes from an artistic family and is the niece of renowned director Ali Raffi. From the age of twelve she was a regular presence at her uncle's rehearsals, and by sixteen she made her stage debut in the play It Doesn't Snow at Tehran's City Theatre, launching a vibrant career in Iranian theatre. She quickly garnered attention with roles such as Desdemona in Othello, the titular heroine in Antigone, and performances in La Musica and J'étais dans ma maison et j'attendais que la pluie vienne. At twenty‑three she relocated to Paris, entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique (CNSAD) in Jean‑Damien Barbin’s class, and continued refining her craft under the direction of Daniel Mesguich. Her early film work includes voicing Sahar in the Oscar‑winning Argo (2012), and in 2013 she starred as Sara in Sepideh Farsi’s Red Rose, a performance that earned her international festival screenings in Toronto, Marrakech and Chicago, but also sparked threats from Iranian media due to a brief nudity scene, leading to her exile and eventual political refugee status with the support of Isabelle Huppert and Bertrand Bonello. In the years that followed, Kavani distinguished herself on prestigious stages such as l'Odéon‑Théâtre de l’Europe, where she recited Forugh Farrokhzad’s poems, and the Festival d'Avignon, portraying poet Ingeborg Bachmann in Malina. She appeared as a jury member at the Rencontre Cinematographique de Cannes (2015) and toured France and China with the adaptation Snow directed by Blandine Savetier. In 2022 she delivered a powerful performance in Jafar Panhai’s No Bears, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and in 2024 she joined the ensemble of Reading Lolita in Tehran, acting alongside Golshifteh Farahani and Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Alongside her artistic achievements, Kavani obtained French citizenship after moving to France in 2010, embodying a transnational career that bridges Iranian and French cultural spheres.