Nazanin Boniadi

In early 2020 it was revealed that Boniadi had been cast in an undisclosed role in The Lord Of The Rings on Amazon Prime.

In April 2019, she was interviewed by CBC News Network anchor Natasha Fatah about the fate of human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, recently sentenced for up to 38 years in Tehran, Iran.

She starred with Dev Patel and Armie Hammer in the 2018 feature film Hotel Mumbai, a dramatisation of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. From 2018 to 2019, Boniadi played the series regular role of Clare Quayle in the Starz espionage drama Counterpart.

On 10 May 2017, American journalist Tony Ortega reported on FBI testimony that Boniadi had given in January 2010 regarding her relationship with Cruise through the Church of Scientology. Boniadi's testimony describes how the Church's Office of Special Affairs selected her to be Cruise's girlfriend.

In 2017, she tweeted congratulations to Leah Remini and Mike Rinder on their series Scientology and the Aftermath winning an Emmy Award.

Boniadi also appeared in an eight episode arc on season 3 of Scandal as antagonist Adnan Salif. She portrayed Esther, the title character's love interest, in the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur.

In October 2015, she became a board member of the Center for Human Rights in Iran.

She narrated the soundtrack to the 2014 Iranian documentary film, To Light a Candle, made by Maziar Bahari and focusing on the persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran.

In 2014, Boniadi was selected as a term member by the nonprofit organization Council on Foreign Relations.

Boniadi left the Church of Scientology soon afterwards and as of October 2014 called herself a "non-practising Muslim".

In May 2013, Boniadi joined the cast of Homeland season 3 as CIA analyst Fara Sherazi. She was promoted to series regular for the show's fourth season.

In December 2012, Boniadi worked with Roxana Saberi to launch an Amnesty International petition and campaign to free wrongfully imprisoned filmmaker Behrouz Ghobadi, brother of acclaimed filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi, in Iran. The petition included signatures from prominent Hollywood directors and actors, as well as major film industry organizations and festivals. On 22 January 2013, Amnesty International announced that Behrouz Ghobadi had been released on bail from prison in Iran.

On 9 April 2012, Boniadi returned to her alma mater, UC-Irvine, in support of the Education Under Fire campaign, calling for an end to discrimination against and persecution of Bahá'ís in Iran.

Boniadi delivered the keynote closing remarks at the 2012 XX Factor, Amnesty International USA's annual town hall meeting on women's rights, in Washington, D.C.

In December 2010, she initiated an Amnesty International petition for Iranian film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, who had been convicted of "propaganda against the state". The petition generated more than 21,000 signatures, including prominent Hollywood directors and actors. On 8 June 2011, she joined a delegation, led by Hollywood director Paul Haggis and AIUSA Executive Director Larry Cox, to deliver the petition to the Iran Mission to the United Nations in New York.

On 3 June 2011, Boniadi joined Sarah Shourd in a rolling hunger strike and wrote an article in support of the Free the Hikers campaign, pertaining to the imprisonment of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal in Iran.

Boniadi received the 2011 Social Cinema Award at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival for her human rights work with Amnesty International.

Boniadi provided a voiceover to AIUSA's "Power of Words" public service announcement with Morgan Freeman, which won a Webby Award; campaigned with the organization for the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA); has served as a panellist and emcee for events related to Iranian rights, and spearheaded The Neda Project with AIUSA in May/June 2010.

She was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series in 2008 for her role in General Hospital.

Boniadi changed her career path from science and started pursuing acting in 2006. Her first major acting role was as Leyla Mir on the daytime drama General Hospital and its SOAPnet spin-off series General Hospital: Night Shift, making her the first contract actor to play a Middle Eastern character in American daytime television history. She is also the first actress born in Iran to ever be on contract on an American soap opera.

About a month later, after being flown to New York by the church, Boniadi learned that her project was to become a suitable girlfriend for Cruise. She stated in her testimony "at the beginning of the relationship [he] was very romantic but as the relationship progressed he began to have temper tantrums. He began to show violent tendencies". After their relationship ended in January 2005, Boniadi confessed her devastation to a friend and fellow church member. She was punished for this according to Church policies: she "had to dig ditches at midnight and scrub floor tiles... She was placed on a curfew... escorted everywhere she went". She also testified that she felt as if "she was a victim of white slavery, because she traveled across state lines under false pretenses".

In late 2004 to early 2005, she had a brief relationship with actor Tom Cruise. According to claims of the documentary Going Clear, her acquaintance with Cruise was not accidental and the Church of Scientology prepared and planted her for this role. The Church also vetted her along with dozens of other women as a potential wife for Cruise, but she was not selected.

In October 2004, Boniadi was volunteering for the Office of Special Affairs in Los Angeles when she was told by Church official Greg Wilhere that she had been selected for a special project. Boniadi was told that her dental braces had to be removed and that her red hair highlights had to be corrected; she was also encouraged to end her relationship with her longtime boyfriend. She had to sign a confidentiality agreement, stating she could not abandon this special project without the Church's approval.

In the mid 2000s, she was a dedicated Scientologist. Her mother had also been a Scientologist.

Nazanin Boniadi (/ˈ n ɑː z ə n iː n ˈ b oʊ n j ɑː d i / ; Persian: نازنین بنیادی ‎, [nɑːzæˈniːn bonjɑːˈdiː] ; born 22 May 1980) is a British actress and human rights defender.