Sheila Vand

Sheila Vand (born April 27, 1985) is an American actress and performance artist of Persian descent. She is known for her role in Ben Affleck's 2012 Oscar-winning film Argo. Vand made her Broadway debut alongside Robin Williams in 2011 in the Pulitzer-nominated Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. She has worked with filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour on several projects, including Pashmaloo which premiered at the Berlinale in 2011 and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. She also has an ongoing collaboration with 2013 TED speaker Alexa Meade. Their photo series MILK: What Will You Make of Me? is on exhibit at the Gallery for Contemporary Photography Ingo Seufert, Munich, Germany and was also exhibited in the Grand Palais at Art Paris Art Fair. Vand is also the creator of experimental performance piece Sneaky Nietzsche.

Early life

Vand was born in a suburb of Los Angeles, but grew up in Palo Alto, California. She is a second-generation Iranian-American. She graduated from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television where she studied acting and directing.

Career

In 2009, Vand originated the role of Hadia in Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which moved to Broadway in 2011. In 2010, she debuted Sneaky Nietzsche, which she called "a live theatrical music experience for the fictionally-inclined." It was described by the Los Angeles Times as "stepping into a living, changing art piece" and by LA Weekly as an "all-encompassing, sensory overload. In a good way." Vand was commissioned by LACMA in 2011 to remount Sneaky Nietzsche.

Vand played the role of Sahar the Iranian housekeeper in Argo and she also narrates the beginning of the film. Her performance was highlighted in the LA Times' annual piece "Small Roles, Powerful Performances" and she was a recipient of a SAG Outstanding Ensemble Award in 2013.

In 2012, Vand began collaborating with painter/photographer Alexa Meade. Their first joint series MILK: What Will You Make of Me? has been featured in The Huffington Post, Wired, Juxtapoz magazine, and at the 2013 TED Global Conference.

She played the female lead in the 2013 CBS pilot for Beverly Hills Cop, but the show was not picked up to series.

Vand made her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in 2013, performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the world premiere of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels under the baton of Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen. She played the role of Lucy opposite Diva Zappa.

Vand plays the title role in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

Vand also had a regular role in NBC's short-lived State of Affairs (2014) – cast as Maureen James, she is CIA Secretary of Defense briefer and best friend to the show's lead, Charleston "Charlie" Tucker (Katherine Heigl).

Vand played Fredi Kincaid in the Minority Report (2015) episode "Fredi," who is thought to be a potential murder victim in Dash's vision.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2008	In the Dark	Nahid	Short film
2009	Peter and the Mischievous Hanky	White Witch
2010	Bold Native	Sonja
2010	Passing On	Diana	Short film
2010	Ketab	Saeed's Sister	Short film
2010	Girlfriend	Kenny's Wife (voice)	Uncredited
2011	Pashmaloo	Farah	Short film
2012	This Is Caroline	Deb (voice)	Short film
2012	Argo	Sahar
2014	A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night	The Girl
2014	Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero	Leila
2016	Whiskey Tango Foxtrot	Shakira El-Khourey
2016	Aardvark	Hannah	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Life	Shahnaz Darvashi	Episode: "A Civil War"
2007–12	Prom Queen	Courtney	Series regular
2012	NYC 22	Jasmeen	Episode: Ransom
2013	Cult	Allegra Constantine	Episodes: "1987", "Flip the Script"
2013	Beverly Hills Cop	Leila	Series regular
2014–15	State of Affairs	Maureen James	Series regular
2015	Minority Report	Fredi Kincaid	Episode: "Fredi"

External links

• Sheila Vand at the Internet Movie Database
• Sheila Vand on Facebook
• Sheila Vand on Twitter
• MILK: what will you make of me?
• Sneaky Nietzche