Jalal Fatemi

Jalal Fatemi is an Iranian-American film actor and director. He graduated from Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City in 1975 and later studied art at West Minster College and University of Utah. In 1978 he moved to Valencia, California to study film at CalArts. After earning his bachelor degree in film, he worked as PA in several Hollywood productions including Francis Ford Coppola's One From the Heart and The American Heart starring Jeff Bridges. He later worked as a film editor at Comcast Cable Vision and during his six year stint at the company, he also directed and produced many television spots and promotional videos. In 1989 he embarked upon directing a sci-fi film, The Nuclear Baby, which later earned several awards at various US film festivals. The film was widely shown on many US and European television networks. In 1995 Jalal Fatemi returned to homeland, Iran. While making many award winning commercials and television productions, he directed his first Iranian feature film, Nokhodi [Little Pea] which won the Golden Butterfly award for best film, best VFX and best direction in Iran International Children-Youth Film Festival. His next film, Don't Forget Your Childhood, is a sci-fi comedy which was screened in 2015 and later, entered various international film festivals. Both films were widely distributed through out the country and received warmly by the Iranian audience. Jalal Fatemi is also a well known actor in Iran. The Fox, Don't Be Tired, The Puzzle, 21 Days Later, Dressage, Weightlessness, The Silent Death and Them are among the mostly recognized films he performed in.