Joseph Tojarieh

Joseph Tojarieh grew up in Los Angeles, California. Tojarieh's relative, Mojgan Rahbar, introduced him to the world of acting when he was just a little boy. When he was about 11 years old, Tojarieh played the role of a student in "Samad Be Jang Miravad," which translates to "Samad Goes to War." The film's cast included Mahbod Moghadam, who is the co-founder of Genius (formerly Rap Genius), a popular annotation startup that raised $40 million in 2014, and co-founder of Everipedia, a Wikipedia competitor that raised $30 million in 2018. The film was directed, written, and starred by Parviz Sayyad, who is one of the best known Iranian actors and comedians today. Sayyad played "Samad," a naive innocent country-boy with a heart of gold who was planning on going to war. Samad's character surfaced political and cultural issues of the time. Samad has been compared to Chaplin's Tramp, which is why Sayyad is often referred to as the Charlie Chaplin of Iran. After his role in "Samad Be Jang Miravad," Tojarieh was an actor in another play directed and written by Sayyad called "Khar," which translates to "Donkey." The play presents a metaphor of a dictatorial police state in which individuals are gradually brainwashed to conform to the norms established by the regime in power without even realizing the metamorphosis that has taken place in them. The "donkey," which is presented in the play in the form of masks worn by the actors, connotes gullibility and stupidity. It is used as a metaphor for a nation that is being duped by the religious rulers in Iran. The play premiered in Los Angeles and was wildly popular among Iranians. Tojarieh later attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he wrote and starred in another play centered around a love story in the Middle Ages. Although Tojarieh is a practicing attorney, he deeply appreciates acting and filmmaking and hopes to participate in a film or play again.