Majid Majidi was born in Teheran in 1959 from an Iranian middle class family. He grew up in Teheran and at the age of 14 he started acting in amateur theater groups. He then studied at the Institute of Dramatic Art in Teheran.
After the Islamic revolution in 1978, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, notably "Boycott" (1985) from Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
His debut as a director and screenwriter is marked by "Baduk" (1992), his first feature film that was presented at the Quinzaine of Cannes and won several awards nationwide. Since then, he has written and directed several films that won worldwide recognitions, notably "Children of Heaven" (1997) that won the "Best Picture" at Montreal International Film Festival and nominated for best foreign film at the Oscar Academy Awards.
His film "The Color of Paradise" (1999) has also won the "Best Picture" award at Montreal International Film Festival. In the USA, it has been selected as one of the best 10 films of year 2000 by Time Magazine and selected by the Critics Picks of the New York Times among the 10 best films of 2000. This film has set a box office record for an Iranian film in the U.S.A. His last film "Baran" has won seven major awards at the Teheran International film Festival in February 2001 and the "Best Picture" award at the 25th Montreal International Film Festival in 2001.
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