Person Biography:
Cyrus Nowrasteh was born in Boulder, Colorado, to an Iranian family. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended Madison West High School, where he was a city champion in tennis. He received an athletic scholarship to New Mexico State University and later transferred to the University of Southern California to study at the School of Cinematic Arts.
Nowrasteh is married to Elizabeth G. Nowrasteh, also known as Betsy. He has two sons, Alex and Mark. Alex is an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, while Mark is a playwright and has written his first play, "The Emperor & The Apostle," which will debut in Austin, Texas, in 2013.
Nowrasteh began his career writing for television shows such as "The Equalizer" and "Falconcrest." He also wrote and directed the highly acclaimed Showtime presentation "The Day Reagan Was Shot," which won several awards, including the Pen USA West Literary Award for Best Teleplay.
Nowrasteh has been involved in several controversies, including allegations of liberal bias in his film "The Day Reagan Was Shot" and conservative bias in his ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11." He has also faced criticism for his film "The Stoning of Soraya M.," which was banned in Iran but became an underground hit.
Nowrasteh has won numerous awards for his work, including the Pen USA West Literary Award for Best Teleplay, the Eddie Award, the Golden Satellite Award, and the SAG nomination for Best Actor. He has also been nominated for several other awards, including the Satellite Award for Best Drama Film and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture.
Nowrasteh is currently developing a film adaptation of Thurston Clarke's book "The Last Campaign" and is working on an adaptation of Anne Rice's novel "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." He is also set to direct a film about Andrew Jackson, with Gerard Butler potentially starring as the lead.
