List of Iranian Americans

This is a list of notable Iranian-Americans of all Iranian ethnic backgrounds, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

Academia/Science

 * Alexander Abian, mathematician
 * Sarkis Acopian, inventor, industrialist, environmentalist, and humanitarian
 * Shahriar Afshar, physicist, namesake of Afshar experiment
 * Siavash Alamouti, CTO Broad Band and INTEL fellow, inventor of Alamouti Code, code-communication engineer
 * Abass Alavi, Professor of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and neurology; University of Pennsylvania.
 * Abbas Amanat, Professor of History & International Studies at Yale University
 * Nima Arkani-Hamed, physicist from Harvard
 * Abbas Ardehali The surgical director of UCLA's Heart and Lung Transplant program
 * Shaul Bakhash, historian, expert in Iranian studies, George Mason University, Clarence J. Robinson Professor of History
 * Mina Bissell, scientist and biologist, LBL
 * George Bournoutian, professor, historian, and author
 * Houchang Chehabi, historian, expert in Iranian studies, Boston University
 * Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City
 * Richard Danielpour, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
 * Touraj Daryaee, Iranologist
 * Rassoul Dastmozd, President and CEO of Saint Paul College, St. Paul, Minnesota
 * Sibel Edmonds, former translator who worked as a contractor for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC)
 * Nader Engheta, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
 * Haleh Esfandiari, Middle East Scholar
 * Nariman Farvardin, Provost of University of Maryland
 * Bobak Ferdowsi, Systems Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He served on the Cassini–Huygens and Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission
 * Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
 * Ali Hajimiri, inventor, technologist, and Thomas G. Myers Professor of Electrical Engineering, Caltech
 * Babak Hassibi, Gordon M. Binder/AMGEN Professor of Electrical Engineering, Caltech
 * Payam Heydari, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Irvine
 * Hamid Jafarkhani, leading communication theorist University of California, Irvine.
 * Ramin Jahanbegloo, philosopher at University of Toronto
 * Ali Javan, physicist, inventor of gas laser, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT
 * Sepandar Kamvar, computer scientist, Stanford University
 * Mehran Kardar, physicist, MIT.
 * Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Founding Director of Center for Persian Studies, University of Maryland.
 * Homayoon Kazerooni, professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Berkeley Bionics, inventor of the HULC
 * Ali Khademhosseini, Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
 * G. A. Mansoori, professor of chemical engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago
 * Bahram Mashhoon, General Relativity physicist
 * Robert Mehrabian, President of Carnegie Mellon
 * Abbas Milani, Director of Iranian Studies Program, Stanford University.
 * Maryam Mirzakhani, Stanford University Professor the first female winner of Fields Medal
 * Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design
 * Hamid Mowlana, Director of the Division of International Communication at American University
 * Firouz Naderi, NASA director of Mars project.
 * Majid M. Naini (مجید نایینی), computer scientist, former Professor at University of Pennsylvania, Rumi scholar, writer, poet, translator, speaker
 * Kayvan Najarian, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Virginia Commonwealth University
 * Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher. He is the author of many scholarly books and articles
 * Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world, a best-selling author, influential commentator and Professor of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University, Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings Institution, and a columnist for Bloomberg View
 * Camran Nezhat, Director, Stanford Endoscopy Center for Training & Technology.
 * Kaveh Pahlavan, Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
 * Gholam A. Peyman, Inventor of LASIK eye surgery
 * Nader Pourmand, Professor of biomolecular engineering at the Baskin School of Engineering
 * Majid Rafizadeh, political scientist scholar at Harvard University
 * Behzad Razavi, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
 * Nouriel Roubini, one of the leading economists of our age, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business, New York University and chairman of RGE Monitor
 * Pardis Sabeti, world-renowned computational geneticist, Associate Professor at Harvard University
 * Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and advocate of reform within Islam
 * Ahmad Salehi, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, in Palo Alto, California
 * David B. Samadi, vice Chairman of the Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
 * Homayoun Seraji, Senior Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
 * Ghavam Shahidi, IBM Fellow, Director of Silicon Technology
 * Manuchehr Shahrokhi, Professor, California State University, Founding Editor, Global Finance Journal and Executive Director, Global Finance Association,
 * Ray Takeyh, Middle East Scholar and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations
 * Kamran Talattof, Persian Literature and Iranian Culture, Director of Persian Program University of Arizona
 * Vahid Tarokh, leading communication theorist Harvard University.
 * Cumrun Vafa, String theorist in Harvard
 * Saba Valadkhan, Biomedical scientist, awarded with the Young Scientist Award
 * Ehsan Yarshater, Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Director of Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University, Founder and Editor in Chief of Encyclopaedia Iranica
 * Lotfi A. Zadeh, mathematician and computer scientist, and a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley; father of Fuzzy Logic
 * Norm Zada, Son of Lotfi A. Zadeh and founder of Perfect 10.
 * Reza Zadeh, Computer Scientist at Stanford University
 * Mark Zandi, economist and co-founder of Economy.com, now part of Moody's Analytics
 * Doreen Granpeesheh, clinical psychologist and producer of the independent award-winning documentary Recovered: Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back

Arts and entertainment

 * Omid Abtahi, actor
 * Ray Aghayan, Emmy Award winning costume designer
 * Shohreh Aghdashloo Academy Award-nominated film/television actress
 * Dan Ahdoot, stand-up comedian
 * Jonathan Ahdout, actor
 * Morehshin Allahyari, artist
 * Mark Amin, film producer
 * Max Amini, comedian
 * Ali Ardekani, businessman, game developer, film developer, and Islamic comedian
 * Aram Avakian, director, editor
 * Reza Badiyi, TV director
 * Catherine Bell, actress (Iranian mother)
 * Nadia Bjorlin, TV/soap opera actress (Iranian mother)
 * Nazanin Boniadi, television and film actress
 * Dar Dash, actor, voice actor (Iranian father)
 * Ala Ebtekar, visual artist whose work explores the cultural intersection of contemporary hip hop and traditional Iran.
 * Robert Ekhart, film actor and editor-in-chief
 * Tanaz Eshaghian, documentary filmmaker
 * Siamak Ghahremani, founder of Noor Iranian Film Festival, radio host.
 * Tehran Ghasri, comedian and actor
 * Nahid Hagigat, illustrator and painter
 * Taraneh Hemami, visual artist
 * Jonathan "Jon" Jafari, comedian, Internet personality, video game critic
 * Alizeh Jarrahy, actress (father of Iranian descent)
 * Kaiis Jarrahy, actor (father of Iranian descent)
 * Kian Jarrahy, actor (father of Iranian descent)
 * Pouran Jinchi, contemporary artist
 * Maz Jobrani, comedian and actor
 * Cyrus Kar, film director
 * Bavand Karim, multi-media artist and filmmaker
 * Andre Khabbazi, actor, semi-professional tennis player
 * Marco Khanlian, actor
 * Nahnatchka Khan, screenwriter and producer
 * Cyrus King, actor
 * Kamshad Kooshan, screenwriter & director
 * Arefeh Mansouri, Inventor, Designer
 * David Malek, Actor, Comedian and Magician
 * Marshall Manesh, actor
 * Mozhan Marno, actress
 * Shiva Rose McDermott, actress (Iranian father)
 * Peyman Moaadi, actor, best known for his acting in the Oscar-winning A Separation
 * Arian Moayed, Tony nominated actor/director
 * Emud Mokhberi, Academy Award nominated director/animator
 * Amir Mokri, director of photography
 * Amir Naderi, film director
 * Amin Nazemzadeh, actor
 * Shirin Neshat, visual artist and director
 * Ali Nejad, Television Personality/Host
 * Nicky Nodjoumi, painter
 * Cyrus Nowrasteh, screenwriter and director
 * Bijan Pakzad noted fashion and perfume designer
 * Adrian Pasdar, actor (Iranian father)
 * Artemis Pebdani, actress
 * Nasim Pedrad, actress, comedian
 * Behnaz Sarafpour, fashion designer
 * Ali Sepasyar, actor, Cartoon Network
 * Sarah Shahi, actress (Iranian father)
 * Yara Shahidi, actor
 * Bahar Soomekh, actress
 * Aramazd Stepanian, actor, producer, playwright
 * Massy Tadjedin, screenwriter
 * Elie Tahari, fashion designer
 * Shaun Toub, actor
 * Bob Yari, Academy Award winning film producer

Business/Technology

 * Vahe Aghabegians, entrepreneur
 * Hamid Akhavan, CEO of Siemens Enterprise Communications.
 * Vahid Alaghband, founder and Chairman Balli Group PLC
 * Anousheh Ansari, Cofounder, Prodea systems, Inc.
 * Sardar Biglari, CEO and founder of Biglari Holdings
 * J. Darius Bikoff, CEO and founder of Energy Brands
 * Shahram Dabiri, video game producer, lead producer of World of Warcraft
 * Kamran Elahian, founder and Chairman Global Catalyst Partners
 * Fardad Fateri, CEO of International Education Corporation
 * Arash Ferdowsi, Co-Founder & CTO of Dropbox
 * Nasir Gebelli, video game developer, programmer of several Nintendo titles including Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Secret of Mana, and Rad Racer
 * Vartan Gregorian, President of The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
 * Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube, VP of Google's web applications
 * Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO, Expedia, Inc.
 * Omid Kordestani, Former Senior Vice President of Google
 * Darius Lahoutifard, Serial Internet Entrepreneur, Author, Inventor
 * Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment, manufacturer of Bratz dolls
 * Fariborz Maseeh, Pioneer of MEMS & Philanthropist
 * Manny Mashouf, founder and Chairman of bebe stores
 * David Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
 * Paul Merage, co-founder of Chef America Inc., manufacturer of Hot Pockets
 * Bob Miner, co-founder of Oracle Corporation and the producer of Oracle's relational database management system.
 * Ron Najafi, CEO of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals
 * Izak Parviz Nazarian, business mogul and philanthropist
 * Sam Nazarian, CEO of the SBE Entertaintment Group
 * Farzad Nazem, former CTO of Yahoo!
 * Mehrdad Nikoonahad, founder & CEO, Nikoo Technology, Inc.
 * Pierre Omidyar, founder of e-Bay (born to Iranian parents)
 * Hooman Radfar, Founder AddThis
 * Ali Rowghani, COO of Twitter
 * Henry D. Sahakian, founder and owner of Uni-Mart
 * Sina Tamaddon, Senior Vice President of Applications for Apple Computer.
 * Sean Rad, Founder & CEO of Tinder
 * Bobby Yazdani. Founder & Former CEO of Saba Software
 * Zaya Younan, CEO of Younan Properties
 * Shayan Zadeh, Founder of Zoosk
 * Roozbeh Pournader, Co-Founder and co-developer of Persian Wikipedia
 * Tommy Pourmahram, Healthcare Leader
 * Erin Hossinzadeh, CEO and founder of Riff Industries

Literature

 * Reza Aslan, writer
 * Laleh Bakhtiar, writer and scholar
 * Najmieh Batmanglij, chef, writer
 * Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America
 * Arion Golmakani. Author of Solacers, Alireza and Welcome to Circuit City
 * Roya Hakakian, writer
 * Azar Nafisi, writer
 * Ghazal Omid (غزل امید), non fiction political writer, non fiction children book writer, speaker, NGO Executive
 * Shahrnoosh Parsipour, writer
 * Dalia Sofer, writer
 * Mahbod Seraji, writer
 * Sholeh Wolpe, poet, editor and literary translator

Media/Journalism

 * Sohrab Ahmari, journalist at The Wall Street Journal
 * Christiane Amanpour, anchor of ABC Sunday morning political affairs program, former CNN chief international correspondent
 * Davar Ardalan, NPR producer of Tell Me More
 * Rudi Bakhtiar, Voice of America employee, former Director of Public Relations for the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), former FOX news anchor, former CNN anchor
 * Shmuley Boteach, rabbi, radio and television host, author
 * Lisa Daftari, journalist, TV commentator, Founder - The Foreign Desk
 * Farnaz Fassihi, journalist, Wall Street Journal
 * Susie Gharib, Anchor of Nightly Business Report distributed by American Public Television
 * Alireza Jafarzadeh, FOX News Channel Foreign Affairs Analyst
 * Arash Markazi, journalist, Sports Illustrated
 * Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, Time Magazine
 * Asieh Namdar, former CNN anchor
 * Jason Rezaian, Washington Post Tehran correspondent
 * Atoosa Rubenstein, former Seventeen (magazine) and CosmoGIRL! editor-in-chief
 * Roxana Saberi, photojournalist whose 2009 arrest in Iran became a cause celebre (Iranian Father)
 * Jahan Salehi, President, Agence Global, Inc. syndicate
 * Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and MTV Networks Kids & Family Group

Music

 * Pouyan Afkary, synthesizer musician, member of Scary Kids Scaring Kids
 * Lily Afshar, classical guitarist
 * Axiom of Choice, world music group
 * Rostam Batmanglij, keyboard player of Vampire Weekend, music producer
 * Leila Bela, Avant-garde musician, actress, writer and former member of Pigface
 * Cyrus Bolooki, drummer of New Found Glory
 * Richard Danielpour, composer, Professor of Composition, Manhattan School of Music
 * Vigen Derderian, singer
 * Deep Dish, electronic music group
 * Ramin Djawadi, composer
 * Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Persian music (two of his works were nominated for Grammy Awards in 2004).
 * Tara Kamangar, pianist and composer
 * Anousheh Khalili, vocalist
 * Bahador Kharazmi, Singer/Songwriter & Producer
 * Abraham Marley, reggae musician (mother is of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Daniel Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Gideon Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Isaiah Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Judah Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Justice Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Zuri Marley, reggae musician (mother of Iranian Jewish ancestry)
 * Lotfi Mansouri, opera director
 * Tony Petrossian, music video director
 * Ilya Salmanzadeh, music producer
 * Liat Shamir, singer-songwriter (mother of Iranian descent)
 * Ali Tabatabaee, one of the lead singers of Orange County, California-based pop-punk band Zebrahead
 * Kourosh Zolani, composer, soloist and inventor. Zolani is best known for designing and playing the world's only playable Chromatic Santour

Politics

 * Adrin Nazarian, Member of the California State Assembly from the 46th district
 * Roozbeh Aliabadi, Senior Advisor to Director of Strategic Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Iran & current affairs commentator New York City
 * Goli Ameri, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, former U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, former U.S. public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and former Republican candidate for the United States House of Representatives from the 1st district of Oregon
 * Cyrus Amir-Mokri, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions
 * Hushang Ansary, former Iranian Minister of Finance and Chairman of National Finance Committee of Bush-Cheney 2004 Campaign
 * Michael Benjamin, 1996 Republican candidate for the U.S. House from the 8th district of New York, and 2004 United States Senate Republican Primary candidate from New York
 * Jimmy Delshad, Mayor of Beverly Hills, California
 * Cyrus Habib, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Washington, first and so far only Iranian-American elected to state office
 * Ross Mirkarimi, Former Member of San Francisco City Council and current San Francisco Sheriff
 * Shayan Modarres, 2014 Democratic primary candidate for the U.S. House from the 10th district of Florida
 * Alex Nowrasteh, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a national expert on immigration policy.
 * Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, Director for Iran on the White House National Security Council Staff under President Barack H. Obama
 * Vali Nasr, Shia scholar and poetical scientist.
 * Azita Raji, United States Ambassador to Sweden
 * David Safavian, disgraced former Chief of Staff of the United States General Services Administration
 * Faryar Shirzad, former Deputy National Security Advisor and White House Deputy Assistant for International Economic Affairs to President George W. Bush
 * Bob Yousefian, former mayor of Glendale, California

Sports

 * Salman Agah, professional skateboarder
 * Andre Agassi, professional Tennis player
 * Esfandiar Baharmast, World Cup referee, FIFA Instructor, known as Esse Baharmast
 * David Bakhtiari, football offensive tackle for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), father is Iranian
 * Eric Bakhtiari, linebacker in the NFL, father is Iranian
 * Steven Beitashour, Iranian-American soccer player
 * Farzad Bonyadi, world poker champion
 * Shawn Daivari, professional wrestler and manager, better known by his stage names of Sheik Abdul Bashir or simply Daivari
 * Yu Darvish, Japanese-Iranian-American MLB player
 * Hamid Dastmalchi, world champion of poker
 * Antonio Esfandiari, champion poker player
 * Alecko Eskandarian, American soccer player
 * Andranik Eskandarian, former soccer player
 * Matt Ghaffari, Siamak Matt Ghaffari - Olympic Silver-Medal Winning Wrestler
 * Afshin Ghotbi, soccer coach, former assistant coach of Korea Republic national football team, Los Angeles Galaxy and Iran national team
 * Hamed Haddadi, NBA player, center for Phoenix Suns
 * Andre Heidari, American soccer player
 * T. J. Houshmandzadeh, NFL wide receiver for the Baltimore Ravens, father is Iranian.
 * King Kamali, IFBB pro bodybuilder
 * Arsalan Kazemi, NBA player
 * Ameen Khosravian, professional Basketball player
 * George Malek-Yonan, Iran's "Champion of Champions" in Track & Field and Pentathlon
 * Garnik Mehrabian, soccer player and coach
 * Omid Namazi, soccer coach
 * Amin Abraham Paul Nikfar, Shot Put for the Iranian National Team and 1st Iranian Asian Indoor Champion 2004
 * Amir Sadollah, Professional mixed martial artist and winner of the ultimate fighter 7
 * Behdad Sami, First Pro Iranian Basketball player to play in USA history.
 * Michael Shabaz, tennis player, 2005 Wimbledon boys' doubles championship
 * Amir Vahedi, professional poker player
 * Leila Vaziri, The current world record holder of the 50 m women's backstroke
 * Khosrow Vaziri, retired professional wrestler, better known by his stage name of The Iron Sheik