Shahab Hosseini

Seyyed Shahabedin Hosseini Tonekaboni (born February 3, 1974) is an Iranian actor, producer, director and screenwriter. He is known for his collaborations with Iranian Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi in About Elly (2009), A Separation (2011), and The Salesman (2016). His accolades include a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, a Silver Bear for Best Actor, and a Crystal Simorgh for Best Actor.

Early life
Shahab Hosseini was born on February, 3rd, 1974 in Tehran. He earned his high school diploma in Biology. He dropped out of the University of Tehran as a psychology student and emigrated to Canada. Later, he became a radio host in Iran, and hosted a TV show for youth. He also took on some small acting roles in a few TV series. Hosseini's cinematic debut was in Rokhsareh (2002) directed by Amir Ghavidel. His career took off with his performance in the movie The Fifth Reaction directed by Tahmineh Milani. In June 2011, he announced that he would be taking a break but would return to cinema in 2013.

Acting
Hosseini has won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for A Separation at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival, and the Best Actor Award at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for his role in The Salesman. Hosseini won his first award, Crystal Simorgh for Superstar in 2009. In 2013, he made his directorial debut. In 2020, Hosseini co-founded Pol Media ("pol" translating to "bridge" in Persian) with director Kourosh Ahari and producer Alex Bretow, a distribution and production company aiming to "bridge the gap" between Iranian art, culture and cinema with that of the U.S.