I’m Yasaman Mohsani, 30 and British-Iranian. I grew up in Iran until I was 6 years old, when my family had to illegally immigrate to the UK - where we arrived, 40 days, 17 trucks later, as political refugee’s and asylum seekers. I’ve come from a low-income household, am from a global majority and have lived in council housing most my life.

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At present, I work as a Breath-work Therapist and intend to continue working on weekends whilst I study at LAMDA to support with living expenses. Your support is an immeasurable gift to my health and well-being, as training full time (10-15 hour) days and working on most weekends/ evenings to fund my course increases the risks of burn out and exhaustion. Your support no matter how small or large is hugely indispensable for me!

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My Journey: 

It’s 2019, I’m sitting at my desk in an Architecture firm, recently graduated with a Masters from UCL and could see exactly where I would be in 5,10,20 years. In that moment I was waking up to the reality that I would always live half a life if I chose to not listen to my inner child that had assured me at 6,  “I AM A ACTOR!” I’d buried my voice deep inside, because as a first generation immigrant, I thought that stability and security would repay the debt of my parents sacrifice. On this day, I understood that the cost of this choice was the abandonment of my heart, joy and passion. Not long after, I started working with Universal Pictures and began evening acting classes. The course brought me home to myself for what felt like the first time in my life. 

Since then, I have continued to follow my passion, investing everything I have and training with The National Youth theatre, Identity School of Acting, The Actors Temple and currently attend weekly classes taught by drama school tutors. All the while, building my career as an actress and gaining invaluable work experience in mainly Film and TV. My leading roles in feature films have given me the opportunity to embody layered characters and I’ve been fortunate to win numerous ‘Best Actress’ awards from international film festivals for my work. Whilst, my roles in TV: ‘Gangs of London’, Marvel studio’s ‘Secret Invasion’ - have given me experience of working on bigger productions. Most recently, my lead role ‘Niloo’ in ‘Rise’ – an award-winning short dedicated to the empowerment of Women Life Freedom movement, has awakened a thirst within me to utilize art as a vehicle for social change. Since then, I have been a passionate advocate for the liberation of the Iranian people and have attended multiple events speaking about Rise and the Woman Life Freedom movement.

Through a desire to integrate the trauma of immigration, as well as more deeply understand people and the human condition, in 2020, I trained in psychotherapeutic Breath-work therapy. I began learning about: Jungian psychology, trauma, intergenerational patterns, family systems, emotions, environmental imprints and how all these factors inform human behaviour, the physical body and character. As a result, I have developed a more detailed view of the intricate factors that form a person’s pathology and character. Knowledge and invaluable experience that I aim to utilise in future when I develop my own works of art in film,TV or theatre.

Currently, I have started to educate myself on the Shahnameh and attend weekly Rumi classes to connect to classical Farsi tales, language and poetry. As an Iranian woman, artist and passionate activist for Iran: I feel I carry the voices of the Iranian people as well as the responsibility and privilege of cultivating Iranian art within the west. I know storytelling to be my life’s purpose and am deeply passionate about expanding Iranian/ diverse stories in theatre, film/ TV.

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