Mozhan Navabi (born May 3, 1980) is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives ...

'' and ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...

'' and played Soraya Manutchehri in '' The Stoning of Soraya M.''. She was previously known as Mozhan Marnò, but returned to her given last name, Navabi, in 2023.

Early life and education

Navabi was born in Los Angeles. Her parents are from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and met in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. She was educated at

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...

. Aiden Mason, November 2019, TV Overmind
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mozhan Marno
Retrieved January 26, 2020 She received her B.A. in French and German comparative literature from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and her M.F.A. in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.

Personal life

She currently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. In addition to English she speaks French, German, Persian, and some

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Career

Mozhan Navabi played the title role in the 2008 film '' The Stoning of Soraya M.'', about a woman whose husband falsely accuses her of adultery, resulting in her death by stoning. In addition she has had roles in a number of television series including '' The Paul Reiser Show'', '' The Glades'', '' Hung'', ''

The Mentalist ''The Mentalist'' is an American procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, t ...

'', '' Bones'', ''

The Unit ''The Unit'' is an American action-drama television series created by David Mamet that aired on CBS from March 7, 2006, to May 10, 2009, with the total of four seasons and 69 episodes. The series focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled ...

'', '' Medium'', '' K-ville'', and '' Standoff''. Navabi also appeared in the Untitled John Wells Medical Drama Pilot, which was not aired. She also stars in Ana Lily Amirpour's directorial debut, '' A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night'', produced by

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

, under his company, The Woodshed. In 2011, Navabi voiced Mirabelle Ervine, a Breton mage and Master Wizard of the College of Winterhold, in the critically acclaimed video game '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim''. She played reporter Ayla Sayyad on seasons 2 and 3 of the acclaimed

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

'', for which she was nominated for a SAG award. She played

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

agent and assassin Samar Navabi in seasons 2-6 of ''

''. Navabi also directs and writes screenplays. Her first feature-length screenplay, ''When the Lights Went Out'', was a quarter finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship. She adapted ''When the Lights Went Out'' as a play and it was mounted at

New York Stage and Film New York Stage and Film is an art and film institution founded in 1985 by Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer (filmmaker), Max Mayer and Leslie Urdang. Each year, in collaboration with Vassar College they produce the Powerhouse Season and Powerhouse Train ...

in July 2013 starring Laura Innes, and directed by Kate Whoriskey ('' Ruined''). Navabi’s short film, ''Incoming'', which she wrote and directed, was accepted to the Noor Iranian Film Festival, LA SHORTS FEST, the Asians on Film Festival, and the DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival. In February 2024, Navabi was cast in the

limited series '' Zero Day'' to portray a recurring role of Melissa Kornblau.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Audio Recordings

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marno, Mozhan 1980 births Living people David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni American film actresses American people of Iranian descent 21st-century American actresses American television actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Barnard College alumni American women screenwriters Film directors from Los Angeles Phillips Academy alumni