Negin Farsad - www.neginfarsad.com
comedian, writer, actor, director
And here's her bio:
Making her parents plea for immigration all the easier, Negin Farsad was born in the United States (New Haven, Connecticut) and grew up in the desert of Southern California. She first obtained a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts and Government from Cornell University. Her dual interest in the arts and politics continued when she moved to New York City writing and performing comedy by night while studying for a Masters degree in Race Relations at Columbia University by day. She followed that degree with a second Masters from Columbia at the School of International & Public Affairs with a focus on Urban Management. She worked as a senior policy advisor with the City of New York but eventually left for full-time uncertainty in the world of performing and visual arts!
Negin recently wrote for the MTV series, Detox and even more recently, the upcoming PBS animated series 1001 Nights. She also completed her first feature film "Nerdcore Rising", a ragingly hilarious comedy about nerdcore hip-hop, for which she was director, producer, writer, PA, and golf caddie. Nerdcore Rising premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival to sold-out houses and critical praise. Salon named it a "hilarious and delightful" Best of Fest pick, the Boston Herald called it "a laugh riot from the first scene," the Portland Mercury said it was "charming and insightful, touching, funny, and awkward," and Wired magazine cleared the lump in their throat to simply say it was "honest and heartfelt." "Nerdcore Rising" has been an official selection of multiple festivals around the country and internationally, earning a Best Film, Best Director, and Audience Favorite awards along the way.
Farsad also produced, directed, wrote, and performed in the Comedy Central web series, The Watch List. Based on the internet success of the series, she then made the show into a broadcast pilot for the network. She originally earned her film chops as a producer and story editor on the documentary feature A Cricket in the Court of Akbar where she produced an 8-week shoot on location in Rajasthan, India, then story edited the pants out of the awesome footage.
As a standup comedian she has opened for the likes of Al Franken and Bobby Lee (Mad TV) in venues ranging from the Laugh Factory in New York, the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, and Town Hall on Broadway. Negin has provided original comedy content for PBS, Pacifica and Sirius Radio stations. She has been an active comedian and producer for over ten years earning a nomination for the Emerging Comics of New York Awards and her own off-Broadway run for the comedy show The Dirty Immigrant Collective. Her solo show Bootleg Islam, which she wrote and performed, has appeared in the DC, Dallas, and Chicago Comedy Festivals among others. Her work has been called "smart, funny, and fascinating by the Wall Street Journal," a Critics Choice by the Chicago Tribune, "a shining exception," by the Dallas Morning News, and Backstage cheered that it doesn't get much funnier than this!
Queen Rania of Jordan commissioned a video from Farsad as part of a web series to combat Middle Eastern stereotypes this series later won the first ever YouTube Visionary Award. But the accolades don't stop there! Farsad recently won the Lifetime Women Filmmaker Award for her film, "Hot Bread Kitchen." She has been a grant recipient from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and was also honored with a Columbia University Fellowship. And those graduate degrees well, they now collect dust.
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Ahmadinejad & the Columbia Protestby neginfarsad3,443 views
something BAD is happening to my speakers just now, they sound like an MRI machine. I llove the Watch List and the Axis of Evil tours!
YakimaGulag 2 years ago