This is a list of Iranian Kurdish notable people by birth, ancestry or ethnicity, arranged by main profession then birthdate. For similar reasons related to ethnogenesis and national identity, this list starts from the early modern history of Iran and Ardalan Emirate, when the Safavids established a national state officially known as Persia or Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region.see:Safavid Iran
This list is not automatically filled with notables from Iranian Kurdistan region, but the following Iranian people have either stated that they are Kurds or that credible sources indicate that. To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article and references showing the person is Kurdish and Iranian.
Arts and entertainment Music Singers
Composers and instrumentalists Rokneddin Mokhtari – (1887, Kermanshah – 1970, Tehran) military personnel, musician and violinist.http://rijaldb.com/fa/11852/محمد کریم خان مختار السلطنه Ghader Abdollahzadeh – (23 October 1925, Kelijeh – 21 May 2009, Bukan) woodwind and Kurdish traditional musician. Bahramji – (1952, Kermanshah) Kurdish New Age musician. Ali Akbar Moradi – (1957, Gharveh) composer and singer. Seyed Khalil Alinezhad – (11 June 1958, Sahneh – 18 November 2001, Gothenburg) singer-songwriter and composer. Saeed Farajpouri – (20 February 1961, Sanadaj) composer, performer and an instructor of a classical Iranian instrument kamancheh. Ardeshir Kamkar – (1962, Sanandaj) kamancheh player. Kayhan Kalhor – (24 November 1964, Tehran) kamancheh-setar player and vocal composer. Shahriyar Jamshidi – (1971, Kermanshah) Kamancheh player and composer; Kurdish-Iranian Canadian.
Visual arts Calligraphers Mirza Mohammad Reza Kalhor – (1829–1892) calligrapher.
Filmmaking Actors Nozar Azadi – (1938, Kermanshah – 27 February 2021, Bremen) comedian and actor. Parvaneh Massoumi – (2 March 1945, Tehran) actress. Faramarz Sedighi – (11 November 1949, Saqqez) actor. Farhad Aslani – (8 June 1966, Bijar) actor. Saeed Aghakhani – (23 February 1972, Bijar) actor. Hootan Shakiba – (14 June 1984, Tehran) actor. Navid Mohammadzadeh – (6 April 1986, Ilam) actor. Neda Ghasemi – (20 June 1987, Kermanshah) actress. Minoo Sharifi – (12 December 1987, Sanandaj) actress. Navid Pourfaraj – (26 April 1988, Kermanshah) actor. Ali Shadman – (24 November 1996, Ilam) actor.
Directors Ghotbeddin Sadeghi – (23 April 1952, Sanandaj) theatre director, playwright, stage and film actor. Bahman Ghobadi – (1 February 1969, Baneh) film director. Jamil Rostami – (1971, Sanandaj) film director. Loghman Khaledi – (23 July 1978) film director.https://kordestan.farhang.gov.ir/fa/news/209613/هنرمند-کُرد-سمیرغ-فجر-را-به-مردم-فرهنگ-دوست-کردستان-تقدیم-کرد Shahram Mokri – (17 August 1978) film director and screenwriter.https://kordestan.farhang.gov.ir/fa/news/12503/داوری-بخش-فیلم-کوتاه-جشن-خانه-سینما-در-دست-هنرمندان-کُرد Keywan Karimi – (21 September 1985, Baneh) film director.
Painters, photographers and cartoonists Hadi Ziaoddini – (1956, Sanandaj) sculpture and painter. Bahram Kalhornia – (1952, Kermanshah) contemporary painter, graphic designer and writer. Bahar Movahed Bashiri – (Tehran) caricaturist, singer and Persian classical musician. Hiwa Pashaei – (August 1979, Eslamabad-e Gharb) painter, photographer and calligrapher. Ebrahim Alipoor – (4 September 1989, Baneh) photographer. Azin Yousefiani
Branches of science Formal science Caucher Birkar – (1978, Merivan) mathematician and university professor. Arezu Jahani-Asl (1970s, Mahabad) physician, neurobiologist and research scientist in Canada
Lynn Kamerlin (b. 1981) Computational biochemist, biophysicist
Social science Sharafkhan Bidlisi – (25 February 1543, Karahrud-1603, Bitlis) Safavid Iranian historian. Nur Ali Elahi – (11 September 1895, Jeyhunabad – 19 October 1974, Tehran) spiritual thinker, musician, writer, philosopher and jurist.Life of Ostad Elahi: Chronology Abd-al-Baqi Nahavandi – (1570, Julaq, Nahavand, – c. 1632 in India) Safavid-Mughal Kurdish noble, historian and biographer. Mohammad Mokri – (1921 – 12 July 2007) linguist, diplomat and writer. Abdurrahman Sharafkandi – (13 April 1921, Bukan – 21 February 1991, Karaj) writer, poet, lexicographer, linguist, and translator.Mamosta Hejar, by Seyid Feysel Moctevî in Kurdish Amir Hassanpour – (17 November 1943, Mehabad – 24 June 2017, Toronto) social scientist. Saleh Nikbakht – (1945) lawyer, advocate and human rights activist. Abbas Vali – (1949) political and social theorist. Hamid Reza Ardalan – (23 September 1959, Sanandaj) musicologist and ethnomusicologist. Hashim Ahmadzadeh – (1961, Mahabad) social scientist.
Economy Omid Kordestani – (1963, Tehran) businessman; Iranian Kurdish-American.
Law and jurisdiction Political prisoners Abdolreza Rajabi – (1962, Mahidasht – 30 October 2008, Reja'i Shahr Prison) political activist. Loghman Moradi – (1983 – 8 September 2018) executed political prisoner Zaniar Moradi – (1987, Marivan – 8 September 2018, Gohardasht Prison) executed political prisoner. Farhad Vakili – (? – 2011) political activist.
Literature Literary scholars Mohammad Ghazi – (3 August 1913, Mahabad – 14 January 1998, Tehran) literary translator. Brayim Younisi – (1926, Baneh – 8 February 2012, Tehran) literary translator, novelist and writer.
Fiction writers Ali Ashraf Darvishian – (3 August 1941, Kermanshah – 26 October 2017, Karaj) short story writer, novelist and scholar of Kurdish folklore studies. Ata Nahai – (1960, Baneh) short story writer and novelist. Ava Homa, writer and educator Laleh Khadivi – (1977, Isfahan) novelist and filmmaker.
Non-fiction writers Baba Mardoukh Rohanee – (1923, Kashtar – 17 January 1989, Sanandaj) Islamic academic and writer. Karim Hisami – (1926, Mahabad – 6 October 2001, Stockholm) writer, literary translator and KDP member.
Poets Shaykh Mustafa Takhtayi – (18th-century) Ardalani Kurdish poet. Ahmad Bag Komasi – (1796–1877) Ardalani Kurdish poet. Mastoureh Ardalan – (1805, Sanandaj – 1848, Sulaymaniyah) Kurdish poet, historian, and writer. Edeb – (1860 – 1918) Kurdish poet. Nari – (1874, Merivan-1944, Bilu) Kurdish poet. Abolqasem Lahouti – (12 October 1887, Kermanshah – 16 March 1957, Moscow) poet and political activist;Iranian-Soviet, maternal Kurdish. Qani – (1898, Mariwan – 1965) Kurdish poet.Khazanedar, Maroof (2002), The history of Kurdish literature, Aras, Erbil. Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi – (6 February 1923, Kermanshah – 17 November 2015, Tehran) poet and lyricist. Shami Kermashani – (1927, Kermanshah – November 23, 1984, Kermanshah) poet. Suwara Ilkhanizada – (1937, Turjan – 14 January 1976, Tehran) Kurdish poet and writer.Suwara Ilkhanizada, A short Biography (in Kurdish). Jalal Malaksha – (1951, Malekshan-e Olya – 31 October 2020) Kurdish poet, writer, political activist, translator and journalist.Prominent Kurdish poet Jalal Malaksha passes away at 69 , kurdpress, retrieved November 1, 2020. Jila Hosseini – (22 September 1964, Saqqez – 27 September 1996) Kurdish poet, writer, researcher and radio announcer.Biography of Kurdish poets Jila Hosseini, Sher e Nab, 2017
Media Journalists Hemin Mukriyani – (1921, Mahabad – 18 April 1986, Mahabad) journalist, poet, translator and literary critic. Roya Toloui – (22 May 1966) Baneh) democracy activist and journalist. Rahim Rashidi – (12 October 1978, Saqqez) journalist and correspondent of Kurdistan TV and Kurdistan 24. Behrouz Boochani – (23 July 1983) journalist, human rights defender, writer and film producer. Ardeshir Pashang – (22 December 1979) journalist, politician, researcher and human rights defender.
Military Aziz Khan Mokri – (1792, Sardasht – 1871, Tabriz) Qajar military officer. Amar Khan Shikak – (1873, Zindasht) military leader and Shikak tribal chief. Shahram Irani – (1968, Sanandaj) military officer and navy commander.
Politics and government Activists Nasser Fahimi – (8 May 1974, Sanandaj) Human rights defender and political prisoner. Farzad Kamangar – (c. 1975 – 9 May 2010) executed teacher, poet, journalist, human rights activist and social worker.THE WORDS OF FARZAD KAMANGER Sherko Moarefi – (1980, Baneh – 4 November 2013, Saqqez) activist and political prisoner.Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Kurdish activist Sherko Moarefi facing execution in Iran, The Guardian (May 1, 2011) Ehsan Fatahian – (1982, Kermanshah – 11 November 2009, Sanandaj) activist and torture victim. Bahare Alavi – (1989, Saqqiz – 27 April 2011, Sanandaj) human rights activist, women's rights defender and blogger. Zara Mohammadi – (1990, Dehgolan) – cultural activist. Habibollah Latifi – (21 March 1982) activist and political prisoner. Sarou Ghahremani – (1993, Sanandaj – 12 January 2018) political prisoner.
Officials Including tribesmen:
Parliament and party members
Religion Islamic figures Abdolqader Zahedi – (1907 – 19 December 2005, Saqqez) Islamic jurist and political leader. Ezaddin Husseini – (26 May 1921, Baneh – 10 February 2011, Upsala) Islamic jurist and political leader. Assad Sheikholeslami Sanandaji – (1932 – 1 January 2020) Islamic scholar and professor. Ahmad Moftizadeh – (February 1933 – 9 February 1993) Islamic scholar.Hassanpour, Amir. "Book Reviews Kurdish Studies: Orientalist, Positivist, and Critical Approaches". Middle East Journal © 1993 Middle East Institute
Yarsanis Sultan Sahak – ( late 14th century to early 15th century) religious leader who reformed the modern beliefs of Yarsanism. Hajj Nematollah – (1871, Jeyhunabad – 28 February 1919, Jeyhunabad) Yarsani mystic and religious leader.Minorsky, Dr. Vladimir. "Notes sur la secte des Ahl-I Haqq", (Deuxieme partie), in Revue du Monde Musulman, Volumes XLIV–XLV, 1921, 205–302.
Sports Executives and administrators
Individual sports Combat sports Bijan Batmani – (22 December 1972, Kermanshah) boxer. Makwan Amirkhani – (8 November 1988, Kermanshah) mixed martial artist, Iranian Kurdish-Finnish.
Wrestling Sardar Pashaei – (12 May 1979, Saqqez) Saman Tahmasebi – (26 July 1985, Sanandaj) https://kurdistanmedia.com/fa/news/کسب-مدال-نقره-جهان-توسط-کشتیگیر-کرد Yousef Ghaderian – (14 February 1993, Saqqez) https://kurdistanmedia.com/fa/news/مدال-نقرە-اسیا-بر-گردن-کشتیگیر-کرد
Weightlifting Kianoush Rostami – (23 July 1991, Kermanshah) strength athlete and Olympic weightlifter.
Paralympic athletes Siamand Rahman – ( 21 March 1988 – 1 March 2020) Paralympic powerlifter.
Team sports Homa Hosseini – (22 December 1988, Kermanshah) rower.
Basketball Hamed Sohrabnejad – (7 May 1983, Sanandaj)
Football
Miscellaneous
See also List of Iranians List of Kurds List of Iranian Azerbaijanis
Footnotes
References Citations
Bibliography