Homayoun Ershadi obit

Homayoun Ershadi Dies: Iranian ‘The Kite Runner’ Actor Was 78

 

He was not on the list.

Iranian architect turned actor Homayoun Ershadi, who is best known internationally for his role in Marc Forster’s Afghanistan-set The Kite Runner, has died at the age of 78.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported that the actor had died on November 11 after a battle with cancer.

Ershadi famously got his first big screen in Abbas Kiarostami’s 1997 Cannes Palme d’Or winning film Taste of Cherry, following a chance meeting with the director when he stopped at a red light in Tehran.

He loved to recount how he heard someone tapping on his window and when he rolled it down, a man introduced himself as Kiarostami and said: “I want to make a film. Would you like to be in it?”

Born in Isfahan on March 26 1947, Ershadi was approaching his 50s at the time of this chance meeting. Having moved to Vancouver in the 1980s in the wake of the Islamic revolution, where he worked in an architectural firm for more than a decade, Ershadi had recently returned to Iran.

Following his performance in a Taste of Cherry, as a man searching for someone to bury him under a cherry tree after his planned suicide, Ershadi’s acting career took off and he would ratchet up more than 90 credits in less than three decades.

He gained international renown for his role as the father figure of Baba in Forster’s The Kite Runner about the friendship between two boys who grew up in Kabul in the 1970s and are then separated by world events.

Further international credits included Alejandro Amenábar’s Agora (2009) and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Hassan Nazer’s UK-set Utopia (2015) about a woman who travels to the UK for fertility treatment. 

Back in Iran, Ershadi’s more recent films have spanned female racing driver drama Lelah; mountain village tale Mahoor and posthumous credit The Hill of Kites. 

He was also rumored to have been cast in Terrence Malick’s long-awaited The Way of the Wind but this has not been confirmed.

Actor

The Way of the Wind

Post-production

 

The Hill of Kites

Reza

Completed

 

Mahoor (2025)

Mahoor

2025

 

25

7.4

Short

2024

 

Shabihe Sheydayi (2023)

Shabihe Sheydayi

1.1

2023

 

Homayoun Ershadi in Schemer (2023)

Schemer

2.1

TV Series

2023

 

Homayoun Ershadi in She Was a Star (2023)

She Was a Star

Short

2023

 

Mostafa Zamani and Hoda Zeinolabedin in Fragrant (2023)

Fragrant

4.0

2023

 

The Sixth Day (2022)

The Sixth Day

5.3

Mahmoud

2022

 

Sara Amiri in Laleh Drive (2022)

Laleh Drive

4.8

Mr. Shahin

2022

 

Mahan (2021)

Mahan

2021

 

The Verdict (2021)

The Verdict

3.1

2021

 

A Bumpy Story (2021)

A Bumpy Story

4.7

DadJudge

2021

 

Passport (2021)

Passport

6.7

Short

Doctor

2021

 

The Playfellow (2020)

The Playfellow

4.0

TV Series

2020

 

The Conspiracy (2020)

The Conspiracy

2020

 

Pardis Ahmadieh in No Choice (2020)

No Choice

5.8

Hospital Manager

2020

 

Merila Zare'i, Amir Hossein Arman, and Nazanin Bayati in Mannequin (2019)

Mannequin

4.6

TV Series

Jamshid

2019–2020

22 episodes

 

Jalal (2020)

Jalal

1.8

TV Series

2020

 

Nilgoon (2019)

Nilgoon

2.8

2019

 

Beloved (2019)

Beloved

3.9

TV Series

Jalal Mofakhar

2019

 

Hattrick (2018)

Hattrick

5.9

Doctor

2018

 

Babak Hamidian, Siamak Ansari, Javad Ezati, and Mina Sadati in Rabbit (2018)

Rabbit

4.2

Iraj (Arash's father)

2018

 

Babak Hamidian, Shahram Haghighat Doost, and Mina Sadati in Cypress Under Water (2018)

Cypress Under Water

5.6

Bahram

2018

 

Chaos (2017)

Chaos

2.3

TV Mini Series

2017

 

Waiting for Kiarostami (2017)

Waiting for Kiarostami

7.4

Koroush Sinaki

2017

 

Homayoun Ershadi, Amir Aghaee, Hasiba Ebrahimi, Ramin Rasouli, and Siyavash Haghighi in Lina (2017)

Lina

7.0

Father

2017

 

Dead End of Trust (2017)

Dead End of Trust

5.4

Sarhang Amiri

2017

 

Isolation (2017)

Isolation

5.5

The Engineer

2017

 

Hamed Komaily and Sara Bahrami in Italy Italy (2017)

Italy Italy

5.3

Homayoun Ershadi

2017

 

Incomplete Dream (2016)

Incomplete Dream

Short

Mr. Badiei

2016

 

Nafashaye Aram (2016)

Nafashaye Aram

2016

 

Anahita Ne'mati in Mohey (2016)

Mohey

5.2

Doctor

2016

 

Alirum Nouraei in Aspirin (2016)

Aspirin

5.2

TV Mini Series

Dr. Ardalan

2016

6 episodes

 

Dimitra Hatoupi and Narine Petrosyan in The Last Inhabitant (2016)

The Last Inhabitant

6.5

2016

 

María Valverde and Adam Bakri in Ali and Nino (2016)

Ali and Nino

6.8

Ali's Father

2016

 

There Will Be Blood on Wednesday (2015)

There Will Be Blood on Wednesday

4.1

Mr. Yoonesi

2015

 

Man Na Manam (2015)

Man Na Manam

2.2

TV Series

2015

 

Utopia (2015)

Utopia

5.4

Uncle Najib

2015

 

The Sea and the Flying Fish (2015)

The Sea and the Flying Fish

6.1

Mr. Soltani

2015

 

Milky Way (2014)

Milky Way

TV Series

2014

 

Wound (2014)

Wound

2.8

TV Series

2014–2017

 

Small Black Fish (2014)

Small Black Fish

3.3

2014

 

Welcome to Tehran (2014)

Welcome to Tehran

5.4

2014

 

Hengameh Hamidzadeh in Ghosts (2014)

Ghosts

3.1

2014

 

Inadvertent (2014)

Inadvertent

5.6

Nabat's aunt's husband

2014

 

A 5 Star (2014)

A 5 Star

4.8

Mirakabadi

2014

 

Willem Dafoe, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, and Rachel McAdams in A Most Wanted Man (2014)

A Most Wanted Man

6.7

Abdullah

2014

 

Bekhatere Mona (2013)

Bekhatere Mona

TV Mini Series

2013

 

Once Upon a Time... Love and Betrayal (2013)

Once Upon a Time... Love and Betrayal

2.7

2013

 

Khanei Rooye Tape (2013)

Khanei Rooye Tape

2.2

TV Mini Series

2013

 

Elham Hamidi in We're All Sinner (2013)

We're All Sinner

5.2

Dr. Ghodsi

2013

 

One, Two, Three, Five

2013

 

Good to Be Back (2013)

Good to Be Back

3.1

Merati

2013

 

Eternal (2012)

Eternal

5.7

Father

2012

 

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Zero Dark Thirty

7.4

Hassan Ghul

2012

 

The Sinners (2012)

The Sinners

5.7

Hajir Khatam

2012

 

Cheque (2012)

Cheque

5.6

Daryoosh

2012

 

Orange Suit (2012)

Orange Suit

4.7

Maior

2012

 

Without Farewell (2012)

Without Farewell

4.3

Hormozan

2012

 

Milad Keymaram and Hamid Reza Azarang in The Queen (2012)

The Queen

6.4

Afsare Eraghi

2012

 

Mahnaz Afshar and Mostafa Zamani in A Simple Love Story (2012)

A Simple Love Story

4.6

Shater Aman

2012

 

Homayoun Ershadi, Hassan Hassandoost, Reza Naji, Mehraveh Sharifinia, Mostafa Baferouni, Hosein Yari, Javad Noruzbegi, Ali Vazirian, and Sattar Oraki in One Line of Reality (2012)

One Line of Reality

5.5

Father In Low

2012

 

We Are All Sinners (2011)

We Are All Sinners

3.4

2011

 

Until Soraya (2011)

Until Soraya

4.3

TV Series

Sarhang (2011)

2011

 

Tarsina cevrilan dunya (2011)

Tarsina cevrilan dunya

Bahrami

2011

 

Facing Mirrors (2011)

Facing Mirrors

7.1

Mr. Tolooyi

2011

 

Principles (2011)

Principles

4.0

Sara's father

2011

 

Aal (2010)

Aal

3.7

Samuel

2010

 

Zangaar

2010

 

Rachel Weisz in Agora (2009)

Agora

7.1

Aspasius

2009

 

Shirin (2008)

Shirin

6.7

Man in audience

2008

 

Bazgasht

7.5

Short

Caretaker

2008

 

Homa (2007)

Homa

2.0

2007

 

The Kite Runner (2007)

The Kite Runner

7.6

Baba

2007

 

Journey to Hidalou (2006)

Journey to Hidalou

5.5

2006

 

Color of Friend (2006)

Color of Friend

6.3

Short

Mr. Jahangir

2006

 

Parvande Havana (2006)

Parvande Havana

5.0

2006

 

The Wet Dream (2006)

The Wet Dream

5.2

2006

 

Kourosh Tahami in From Afar (2006)

From Afar

5.5

Doctor

2006

 

Homayoun Ershadi and Leila Hatami in Portrait of a Lady Far Away (2005)

Portrait of a Lady Far Away

5.9

2005

 

Homayoun Ershadi, Golshifteh Farahani, Ali Mosaffa, Katayoun Riahi, and Borzou Arjmand in Somewhere Else (2004)

Somewhere Else

4.1

2004

 

The Fifth Reaction (2003)

The Fifth Reaction

5.8

2003

 

Baq-e Bolur

TV Series

2002

 

Yusef Moradian and Zohreh Fakour Sabour in Smell of the Rose (2002)

Smell of the Rose

2002

 

The Disturbant (2002)

The Disturbant

4.7

2002

 

The Last Days of Being Happy (2001)

The Last Days of Being Happy

TV Mini Series

2001

 

Love Rain (2001)

Love Rain

2.0

TV Series

2001

 

Dance with Dream (2001)

Dance with Dream

6.4

2001

 

Ham Shagerdiha (1998)

Ham Shagerdiha

4.5

TV Series

1998

 

Homayoun Ershadi and Golshifteh Farahani in The Pear Tree (1998)

The Pear Tree

7.4

Mahmoud

1998

 

The Lost Love (1998)

The Lost Love

4.5

1998

 

Homayoun Ershadi in Taste of Cherry (1997)

Taste of Cherry

7.7

Agha-ye. Badiei

1997

 

Kakadu (1995)

Kakadu

5.5

1995

 

Thanks

Formula of Death (2012)

Formula of Death

6.9

TV Movie

thanks

2012

 

Self

Abi be range aseman (2019)

Abi be range aseman

7.3

Self

2019

 

Capital (2011)

Capital

7.2

TV Series

Self

2014

1 episode

 

Cinema 3 (1984)

Cinema 3

6.1

TV Series

Self - Interviewee

2008

1 episode

 

Barf

Self - The narrator

2003

 

Archive Footage

Compression (1995)

Compression

7.0

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2023

1 episode

 

Mehmet Açar in Film Önü / Arkasi (2019)

Film Önü / Arkasi

6.7

TV Series

Self (archive footage)

2020

1 episode