TEHRAN — Homayoun Ershadi, the Iranian actor whose quiet, introspective performance in Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry brought him international acclaim, died on Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 78.
His death was confirmed by Iran’s House of Cinema and reported by the state news agency IRNA.
Ershadi was not a trained actor when Kiarostami cast him in the 1997 Palme d’Or-winning film, which follows a man driving through the hills outside Tehran in search of someone willing to bury him after his planned suicide. The role, marked by its emotional restraint and existential depth, launched Ershadi’s late-blooming career and made him a symbol of Iranian cinema’s global reach.
Born in Isfahan in 1947, Ershadi studied architecture in Italy before returning to Iran. His transition to acting was serendipitous — Kiarostami reportedly spotted him in traffic and offered him the role that would define his career.
Ershadi went on to appear in several international productions, including The Kite Runner (2007), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), and A Most Wanted Man (2014), bringing his understated presence to Western audiences while remaining a fixture in Iranian film and television.
Tributes poured in from across Iran’s artistic and political communities. Iran’s House of Cinema praised him as “a prominent figure of cinema, theatre, and television.” Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani called his passing “sorrowful,” describing him as “a noble and thoughtful actor of Iranian cinema” in a post on X.
Ershadi’s legacy endures in the quiet power of his performances — a reminder that stillness, when rendered with honesty, can speak louder than words.
