Iran’s renowned cinema and television actor Amin Tarokh has passed away at the age of 69 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
In two separate statements on Saturday, Iran’s House of Cinema and the Association of Iranian Actors confirmed that the award-winning actor had died earlier in the day, less than a week after he was hospitalized in the capital Tehran.
Tarokh, who was born in Shiraz in August 1953, received a degree of acting from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Tehran in 1979, and a master of arts in cultural management in 1984. He began acting in 1973 and for almost half a century starred in a diverse range of plays, movies and television shows.
In 1994, Tarokh opened his acting school, the Open Workshop of Acting, and trained countless future actors and actresses. His graduates have so far won many awards. In 2000, he also connected his school to other international acting schools.
Tarokh was a member of the judging council in numerous festivals, and also a member of the board of directors of the House of Cinema. Moreover, he was invited to many film festivals abroad. As of 1995, he was considered one of the influential figures in reviving theatrical art in Iran.
One of his most memorable roles was ‘Ibn Sina’ (Avicenna), a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. The eponymous TV series was broadcast in Iran in 1985, when Tarokh was 32.