She has hottest role on TV - and loves it
By Kevin D. Thompson

Palm Beach Post Television Writer

You can't take your eyes off Shohreh Aghdashloo.

It's not because she's strikingly beautiful. She is. Or because her voice is deeper than Barry White's. It seems like it. Or because she's a good actress. She has an Oscar nomination for House of Sand and Fog.

No, it's because the 52-year-old Iranian actress is playing a chillingly sinister Middle Eastern terrorist on 24. As the wickedly cunning Dina Araz, Aghdashloo is stealing every scene she's in with her icy looks, throaty voice and scary ability to poison her son's girlfriend with ease.

We caught up with Aghdashloo, a tireless social and political activist, who talked about her career-making role on 24, her velvet voice and why she left her native Iran.

Question: You have the deepest, sexiest voice I've ever heard. Do you hear that a lot?

Answer: (laughing) Yes and it's overwhelming. It's nice, actually. What better compliment can you think of?

Q: How long has your voice been that deep?

A: Almost 30 years now. After puberty it started getting thicker and thicker. Sometimes it was thicker than my younger brother's voice. My family used to call me the oldest brother of all.

Q: Your character has become the season's breakout star. What has that been like?

A: Terrific! I'm really enjoying it and it's been an absolute pleasure. I've never worked so hard in my career before. There's a difference between TV and cinema. Marlon Brando said cinema is all about waiting, not about acting. There's no waiting on TV. There's no way you can expand your imagination or try to become creative.

Q: Is that frustrating?

A: If you are familiar with the type of work, not really. What made me love this piece of work and want to be part of it was that it was fast-paced.

Q: Your character has done some pretty bad things, like killing her son's girlfriend with a fatal dose of poison. Was that tough to do?

A: I rehearsed it prior to the shooting to make myself ready. What really hurt me was when they gave me the gun. The gun was real. There were no real bullets in it, of course, but just the thought of it. I never touched a real gun before.

Q: You have said that you would never play a terrorist. What changed your mind?

A: Dina goes beyond a terrorist. She is the terror herself, the terror maker or terror creator. It's a full-dimensional character role (compared with) other roles that were just façades of what we believe terrorists are. I realized the complexity of the character and that it would give me a chance to play a variety of roles under one name. I turned it down at first because they couldn't give me a (script). Because of all the secrecy, they didn't want to tell me. Two weeks later my agent called and said (the producers) decided to share the story with me and tell me about the character. It took two hours and they told me all the details. It was important for me to find out all aspects of the character.

Q: Has there been any sort of backlash for you personally?

A: I'm afraid so, yes. I knew that would happen. I told the writers, "I hope you know what you're getting yourself involved with." I've been told I shouldn't have accepted this role as an Iranian. But there are no Iranian names on the terrorist list. My American friends have been worried about me. They were more worried than I was.

Q: What do you say to groups who object to American Muslims being portrayed as bloodthirsty terrorists?

A: I would say this is purely fictional. It was created from scratch, but inspired by the post 9/11 era. Unfortunately all of the terrorists on that plane were Muslim. There was no other way of portraying them. We have to be patient and we have to allow the whole country to mourn.

Q: You thought about a career in journalism. What happened?

A: I studied international relations in England and I wanted to pursue higher education and be able to analyze what was going on in Iran politically, not only in Iran, but in the Middle East. I wanted to become a journalist in order to help Middle Easterners. I asked a friend of mine who was working for my then-favorite newspaper The Guardian to find me a place, but right after I finished studying and got my B.A. in international relations, all of a sudden a friend of mine who is a playwright called me and told me he had a play with a lead (role) in it for me. The actress in me started crying out, "Give me a chance." It was a political play about an Iranian man who was living in exile and who wanted to commit suicide. By his death he would make the media pay more attention to what was going on. I realized, "Oh my God, maybe this way I can be more useful and helpful."

Q: Do a lot of people mispronounce your name and is that frustrating?

A: No it's not frustrating. It's a long name, it's a foreign name, it's very difficult and I respect anyone who has the courage to say my name. On the red carpet, Joan Rivers, who was very nice, very kind and very hospitable, tried to do her best to say my name right. But she made a mistake. All the Iranians were like, "How could she possibly make such a mistake?" But I don't blame her.

Q: While working as a theater actress in Tehran, your work was often censored or outright forbidden.

A: It was pretty frustrating. I didn't want to live in an Islamic society because I knew I wasn't going to be a first-class citizen and I knew I was not going to be able to keep doing what I was doing as an actress.

Q: What do you miss most about your country?

A: The love alleys. The long, narrow alleys where only two people can pass through. You have to pass hand in hand. Both sides are high walls and covered with yellow jasmine. It makes you feel crazy, especially in the spring.

Q: Were you disappointed when you didn't win an Oscar last year?

A: Nope. I knew I wasn't going to win because the voters and my peers had not seen my body of work. I could've easily been a housewife who was just right for that part. I don't blame anybody. It was an honor to be nominated.

Q: Will you be watching the Oscars this year? If so, who are you rooting for?

A: Of course! There are so many this year. Jamie Foxx. Annette Bening. Johnny Depp. Laura Linney. Virginia Madsen. I want Martin Scorsese to win. We owe it to him. My favorite one is Clint Eastwood.

Q: We don't see you in different outfits since 24 takes place in one day. Describe your fashion sense.

A: I love simple things with an edge to it. A simple dress with a nice broach.

Q: Are people surprised when they see how attractive you are in person?

A: Oh my God, they are! I was at a party the other night and a handful of stars were in a room and after 45 minutes I heard one of the gentleman say, 'Oh my God! I wouldn't have been able to tell she's the one who plays on 24!' When they don't recognize me, that's my reward.