Marjan

Marjan — Biography

Born Shahla Safi Zamir in Tehran on 14 July 1948 to a Ministry of Transport official and a schoolteacher, she worked as a teenage reporter and radio narrator for a youth magazine before marrying and having a daughter, Poopak; after that marriage ended she wed Fereydoun Jourak, who encouraged her to sing, and she adopted the stage name Marjan because another actress was already known as Shahla. She entered cinema in 1969 with A World Full of Hope, went on to appear in films including Here Comes Mr. Mehdi, A Man and a City and A Man for Rent over the following decade, and became known in Persian pop for "Kavir-e Del," adapted from a Turkish song. The 1979 Islamic Revolution ended her career: she was arrested in 1980 for performing a song, then detained in Evin Prison from 1982 to 1990 on accusations of supporting the People's Mojahedin, and remained barred from leaving Iran for seventeen years afterward. She fled to Dubai in 2001, later moved to the United States, settled in California in 2006, and continued performing with the People's Mojahedin's musical ensemble. She died in Los Angeles on 6 June 2020 following an operation.