Farhad Safinia ( fa, فرهاد صفینیا Farhād Safīnīyā; born 1975) is an
Iranian-American
Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship.
Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...
screenwriter, film/TV producer and director, best known for ''
Apocalypto
''Apocalypto'' () is a 2006 action adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Native American and Indigenous Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dal ...
'', ''
Boss'', and ''The Professor and the Madman (film), The Professor and the Madman''. He was credited under the pseudonym P. B. Shemran in the latter.
Personal life
Farhad Safinia was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1975. He left Iran with his family at the age of four to live in Paris, then London. He studied at Charterhouse School, Charterhouse and then at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied Economics. While at King's he directed and acted in a number of stage productions for the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club and other theatre companies.
After graduating, he moved to New York City, where he studied film at the New School University and at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In the summer of 2007 he married actress Laura Regan in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Hollywood
''
Apocalypto
''Apocalypto'' () is a 2006 action adventure film produced, co-written, and directed by Mel Gibson. The film features a cast of Native American and Indigenous Mexican actors consisting of Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Trujillo, Mayra Sérbulo, Dal ...
'' (2006), which he co-wrote with director/producer Mel Gibson, is his first feature-length screenplay. Safinia met Gibson serving as his assistant during postproduction and promotion of ''The Passion of the Christ'' two years earlier. He was also the creator, writer and executive producer of the Starz (TV channel), Starz TV series ''
Boss''. He went on to direct the 2019 film, ''The Professor and the Madman (film), The Professor and the Madman'' starring Mel Gibson. He currently lives in Los Angeles.
References
External links
*
Farhad Safinia filmography at NY TimesApocalypto official movie page
– Includes brief bio on Safinia
1975 births
Living people
People educated at Charterhouse School
People from Tehran
Iranian screenwriters
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
American male screenwriters
American film producers
Writers from Los Angeles
The New School alumni
Iranian film producers
Regan family
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
Iranian diaspora film people
Screenwriters from California
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Iranian emigrants to the United States
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