Sirous Ebrahimzadeh

Sirous Ebrahimzadeh was born on 1 April 1937 in Ardabil, in northwestern Iran. Family tradition held that a seventh-generation ancestor was an Isfahani tile master sent by Shah Abbas to restore the shrine of Sheikh Safi al-Din, who settled in Ardabil. When Ebrahimzadeh was about five, the family moved to Tehran and lived near Imamzadeh Yahya. He completed early schooling in Iran and developed an early love of performance and literature before university.

He earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Tehran, then travelled to the United Kingdom for theatre training. He also studied music at the University of Birmingham. That dual grounding in language, stagecraft and music shaped both his acting and his later work as a writer, translator and voice artist. He often urged younger performers to pursue serious study, though in later interviews he emphasised that modern training also had to keep pace with technology and new media.

Ebrahimzadeh joined Anahita Theatre in 1955 with Mostafa Oskoui and began directing by 1957. Film dubbing started in 1959; radio followed from 1967 for about a decade. His cinema debut was Hassan the Bald (1970) for Ali Hatami, followed by Sayyad's Samad films, Sattar Khan and later Kamal-ol-Molk. Television work included Octopus before the revolution and later Cactus, Medical Building, The Chef and many teletheater productions he also directed. He remained active into the late 2000s, with Orange Taxi among his last theatrical film releases, while continuing writing, translation and occasional stage work.

He was married for many years to Nahid Kabiri, a poet and writer who studied social sciences at the University of Tehran and later trained in acting and makeup in Georgia in the United States. They met through theatre and makeup work. In published interviews he described living for years on Valiasr Street in Tehran. In his later career he spent extended periods in the United States and gradually withdrew from Iranian screen production. Details about children were not made public in major obituaries.

In Cinema Museum oral-history remarks and essays collected in A Small Request, Ebrahimzadeh stressed craft, clarity of speech and respect for audiences. He spoke affectionately of colleagues such as Dariush Mehrjui even when recalling an early failed audition for The Diamond 33. He argued that performers needed serious preparation, then later acknowledged that education systems had to adapt to internet-era learning. His writing often mixed observation of Tehran street life with reflections on theatre culture.

Colleagues and audiences remembered him as a bridge between mid-century Iranian theatre training and late-twentieth-century popular cinema and television. His voice work in dubbing, radio and audiobooks extended his presence beyond the camera. House of Cinema recognition for Mummy 3 and the 2017 cinema celebration honour marked institutional appreciation of a long supporting and character career. Tributes after his death in 2026 emphasised both his stage roots and his familiar presence in household television comedies.

He received the Golden Statuette for best supporting actor at the Fourth House of Cinema Festival for Mummy 3 (released 1999/1378). Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance awarded him a first-class art badge. In September 2017 he was honoured at the Nineteenth Iranian Cinema Celebration at Ivan Shams Hall. From 2017 he was associated with the Institute of Veteran Artists.

Iranian viewers encountered him across comedy and drama: the Cactus series with peers such as Khosrow Shakibai and Fathali Oveisi, Medical Building with Soroush Sehat, and Hatami's historical films. Clips from teletheater he directed, including The Chicago Farmer, circulate online. Cinema Museum recorded an oral-history session with him. Press coverage of his death in 2026 revisited his early Anahita years and his late residence abroad.

Major obituaries and institutional notices around his death did not centre on public controversies. Like many Iranian artists of his generation, his working life spanned sharply different political eras before and after 1979; available English and Persian sources emphasise craft and longevity rather than scandal.

Sirous Ebrahimzadeh died on 21 September 2026 (30 Shahrivar 1405) at the age of 89 after a period of illness. Radio Farda and other outlets reported that he died in the United States, where he had often lived in later years. Actor and presenter Ehtiram Boroumand announced the death on Instagram, offering condolences to the Iranian arts community and to his wife, Nahid Kabiri. The House of Cinema and Iranian news agencies confirmed the news. The cause of death was not made public in detail beyond reference to illness.