Our Founder
Azita Ghanizada is an Afghan American actress, producer, and speaker. Her family fled Afghanistan and landed on the steps of the US Capital as political asylum seekers. Having learned English on TV, she dreamed of being on television, so after graduating from University, she bought a one-way ticket to Hollywood, landing shortly before 9/11, and somehow found her way to becoming one of the first women from Afghanistan to lead a series on television in the US on “Alphas.” Crediting only instinct and naivete, Azita has continued to work consistently on film and television, holding her own opposite the likes of Academy Award Winners Rachel Weisz, Mahershali Ali, Casey Affleck, Michael Shannon, and other greats. She was named one of the "Seven Sundance Breakout Actresses You Must Know," for her work in "Complete Unknown" (2016). And has recurred on TV Series such as Good Trouble, Ballers, and United States of Al. She also made her Broadway debut in 2022 in The Kite Runner at the Helen Hayes Theater in NYC.
In 2017, Azita, after two years of lobbying, studying the census, the contracts, and diversity MOUs, Azita helped build the MENA category into the SAG-AFTRA theatrical contracts. For the first time in 37 years, a new hiring category had been introduced into Hollywood. She launched @menaadvocacy to blaze a path for new representation for the often erased MENA/SWANA community. She has presented multiple studies showing the bleak representation of MENA performers on television, has rolled out education for studios and networks on the MENA experience, held casting directors training on the MENA and MENASA regions, helped facilitate open MENASA calls in Hollywood, worked to launch MENA groups at various guilds and companies throughout the entertainment industry and so much more.
Azita Ghanizada
Actress, Producer, Speaker