Iranian Actor Homayoun Ershadi, Star From The Kite Runner And Taste Of Cherry, Passes Away At 78

Homayoun Ershadi, the legendary Iranian architect-turned-actor, best known for his roles in Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry (1997) and Marc Forster’s Afghanistan-set The Kite Runner (2007), breathed his last on Tuesday (November 11) at the age of 78.

Iranian actor Homayoun Ershadi dies

Iran’s state news agency IRNA confirmed the news of Ershadi's demise. He passed away after his battle with cancer. Tributes are pouring in on social media from his co-stars, and colleagues from the industry, remembering the legacy the Iranian star has left behind.

Actor Khalid Abdalla, who played Ershadi's on-screen son Amir in The Kite Runner mourned the loss of the cinema icon in a heartfelt post on X (formerly Twitter). "A great has passed," he wrote and added, "Homayoun Ershadi, my father in The Kite Runner, a magnificent soul who touched so many millions of people around the world. I am so sad to hear of your passing."

He called it an "honour" to have worked with the veteran actor and "able to recall and cherish your voice and energy and humour."

"It is a very special bond when someone plays your father in film. It certainly was for me. In the photo of us together, I know exactly what he’s saying - This is my son. He’s like my son. What a special bond that film created for us, before the world wrote us into other stories," he wrote further.

Towards the end of his post, Abdalla offered condolences to Ershadi's family and friends, and the lives he touched.

"If you don’t know him, please search out his films. His first was with Abbas Kiarostami, who spotted him at a traffic light in his Land Rover smoking one of his Bahman cigarettes, and asked him to do a screen test for what became The Taste of Cherry. The first of these images. His soul in that film is at the heart of the Palme d’Or the film won," he concluded his post.

Who was Homayoun Ershadi?

Born in Isfahan on March 26, 1947, Ershadi was trained as an architect, and worked for over a decade in Vancouver before his return to Tehran. His life changed after his unexpected encounter with filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who was then preparing to shoot Taste of Cherry. He asked Ershadi if he would like to be part of his film.

His chance meeting with the acclaimed filmmaker was a turning point and a game changer and there was no looking back for him. The film won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 1997.

In less than three decades, Ershadi had more than 90 screen credits in Iran and other countries.

Apart from his collaborations with Kiarostami and Forster, the Iranian actor also worked with filmmakers Dariush Mehrjui, Kathryn Bigelow, Alejandro Amenábar and others. The Pear Tree, Portrait of a Lady Far Away, Color of Friend, Agora, Zero Dark Thirty, The Last Inhabitant, Mannequin, No Choice, Blue Lantern, and The Town, among others are some of his notable works.