Marina Golbahari

Marina Golbahari
Born1992 (age 31–32)[1]
Kabul, Afghanistan
OccupationActress

Marina Golbahari (Dari: مارینا گلبهاری; born 1989)[2] is an Afghan actress who earned international fame for her role as the title character in the 2003 film Osama, playing a girl who had to dress and act as a boy to support her family during the Taliban years.

Career

Golbahari was cast as Osama by the Afghan film director Siddiq Barmak, who picked her roaming on the streets of Kabul as a beggar. The movie went on to earn the Golden Globe award in the category of Best Foreign Film and Golbahari's performance was well received by many critics, including The Arizona Republic 's Richard Nilsen, who wrote, "there is no shortcoming in the acting of Marina Golbahari".

Golbahari figures prominently in the 2012 book, Shakespeare in Kabul, by Qais Akbar Omar and Stephen Landrigan. The book chronicles a 2005 performance in the Dari of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost that was presented in Kabul and then in other parts of Afghanistan the following year.

Personal life

Golbahari is married to Noorullah Azizi, who is also involved with the film industry in Afghanistan.[3][4]

Golbahari and her husband are currently living in exile in an asylum shelter in France as Golbahari has received numerous death threats after being photographed at a South Korean film festival without her head covered.[5]

Awards and nominations

  • Molodist International Film Festival (2003) "Best Young Actor Award" for Osama

References

  1. ^ "Marina Golbahari". Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  2. ^ Wagner, Thomas (10 December 2003). "Danger: girl at work". The Age. Retrieved 4 November 2015. Marina, whose beautiful smile is never seen on film, giggles, blushes and bows her head in embarrassment while talking to foreigners, even though she is now 15 and Barmak took her to a film festival in South Korea earlier this year.
  3. ^ Lee, Youkyung (2 October 2015). "Afghan actress urges Afghan women to keep working". Associated Press. Retrieved 3 November 2015. ...she said in an interview translated by her husband Noorullah Azizi, who works in movie and TV production in Afghanistan.
  4. ^ "Marina Golbahari". Associated Press. Retrieved 3 November 2015. ...she said in an interview translated by her husband Noorullah Azizi, who works in movie and TV production in Afghanistan
  5. ^ "Afghan Film Star in French Exile After Death Threats". The Local. Retrieved May 5, 2016.