Mozhan Marnò

Mozhan Marnò was born in Los Angeles, California. She pursued her education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, before earning a BA in Comparative Literature from Barnard College, Columbia University. Furthering her artistic training, she obtained an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama. Marnò’s career began with early appearances in television series such as “The Unit” (2006-09), “Standoff” (2006-07), and “Shark” (2006-08). Her acting career gained significant momentum when she took on the titular role in the 2008 film “The Stoning of Soraya M.”, where she played an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery. This role brought her critical attention and demonstrated her capability in handling complex characters.

She continued to expand her filmography with roles in various television series and films. From 2014 to 2015, Marnò played journalist Ayla Sayyad in the acclaimed Netflix series “House of Cards.” Her role in this series earned her a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Subsequently, she joined the cast of NBC’s “The Blacklist” from 2014 to 2022, portraying Mossad agent Samar Navabi for 104 episodes across five seasons. Her work in independent film includes a significant role as Atti, an Iranian prostitute, in Ana Lily Amirpour’s 2014 film “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night.” Marnò has also contributed her voice talent to video games, notably “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” (2011), where she voiced Mirabelle Ervine and Namira.

Beyond acting, Marnò is a writer and director. Her play, “When the Lights Went Out,” premiered at New York Stage & Film in 2013, starring Laura Innes and directed by Kate Whoriskey. She also wrote and directed the short film “Incoming” (2012), which was screened at several film festivals. In 2021, Marnò partnered with Prentice Penny’s A Penny For Your Thoughts Entertainment to adapt Marjan Kamali’s novel “The Stationery Shop” for television. Her recent acting work includes recurring roles in “Pam & Tommy” (2022) as Gail Chwatsky and “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (2022) as Nahid, and she is slated to appear in the Netflix limited series “Zero Day” in 2025.