Nazanin Boniadi Has Our Attention, Both On-Screen and on the Red Carpet

In Nazanin Boniadi’s first life, she was a premed student studying biological science at the University of California, Irvine. She received accolades for her molecular research, was the assistant editor in chief of the school’s medical newspaper, Med Times, and graduated with honors. When a career in the medical field seemed all but certain, she pivoted to the performing arts, much to her parents’ chagrin. Entering Hollywood as an Iranian woman in her mid-20s in a post-9/11 world came with its challenges, but Boniadi never looked back. "I stuck with it, and I’m really happy that I did because following your dreams pays off,” Boniadi says. 

All that grinding and persistence in the business—earning her critical acclaim for her performances in projects such as General Hospital, Homeland, and Hotel Mumbai—has led Boniadi to this moment: starring in one of the year’s biggest shows, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Boniadi was on the road promoting another project when she submitted her first audition tape in April 2019 for the then-untitled Lord of the Rings project. The casting process was arduous. It was six months of self-tapes, an in-person meeting with the casting director in London, and lots of anticipation before she found out she got the job and would need to relocate to New Zealand three weeks later. It was the opposite of "hurry up and wait” until months of intense preparation—stunt training, gym sessions, dialect coaching, and costume fittings—came to a screeching halt in March 2020. "I was a day away from filming, and they had to shut down,” she recalls. Boniadi waited out the early days of the pandemic back home in Los Angeles before being called back to New Zealand in August, where she would stay until filming wrapped in July 2021. 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth—thousands of years before the events of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—and features the main cast of 22 people. The story covers major events of the time period, including how the infamous rings were forged. Boniadi plays human Bronwyn from the Southlands, a healer and single mother fighting for the rights of her people who have long been oppressed by the elves. It was a character that immediately resonated with Boniadi—not just because of the serendipitous healing-sciences connection but also Bronwyn’s tenacity and resilience. "There’s an element of fighting for her people’s rights that I can relate to as a longtime human-rights activist for my homeland, Iran,” she says. "The people at the forefront of the movement toward democracy and freedom in Iran are the brave women of Iran. They are risking everything for a better tomorrow. The stories I hear, the cases I work on, the women I speak to inside Iran, they gave me all the inspiration I needed to build Bronwyn from the bottom up [and] to anchor her in the truth of what women around the world and in my homeland are doing—risking everything for a better tomorrow.”

The series showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne welcomed creative collaboration from the actors in building out their characters, and for Boniadi, it was important to ensure Bronwyn’s actions came from a place of love. "She is not only a healer, not only the mother of a rebellious teenage son, not only in a forbidden romance with an elf, but she’s a leader,” Boniadi says. "And the thing I related to most and conveyed to the showrunners that they were very receptive to was [this]. As an activist, you can be driven by one of two things: The desire for justice can come from a place of vengeance … or it can come from a place of love for the disenfranchised. So I wanted to base everything that Bronwyn does from a place of love—her love of her people, her love for her son, her love for the elf—and a desire to overcome as opposed to ‘I’m going to show you. I’m going to bring you down.’ And I’m hoping that’s what the audience will see.”

The authenticity Boniadi brings to the character is present in even the smallest of details, like the way she moves about her garden or fixes up an ointment or remedy. To fully embody a healer, the actress approached production about taking up gardening and participating in different workshops to learn how to mix herbs. "It’s really important to have that sense of purpose as a character,” she says. She’s also quite proud of her stunt work in the show, which includes a particularly badass scene with her on-screen son in episode two. Months and months of prep went into getting her physically ready. "Never have I had so many battle scars,” she laughs. But the work paid off.

There is also the way in which Boniadi walks and carries herself as Bronwyn. "She reminds me a little bit of the Renée Zellweger character in Cold Mountain,” she describes. "She walks differently than I do. She is very anchored in the soil, as opposed to the elves who are very upright and sort of float in the air.” The actress fell in love with every element that put her in the world. Even Bronwyn’s look, though simple in nature, has secret details, like her hand-stitched leather pants and sock-like handcrafted lace-up boots that peek through occasionally. 

There may be no glamorous wardrobe changes for Bronwyn this season, but Boniadi is more than making up for it with the show’s press tour. Working with stylist Erin Walsh, the two have crafted a sartorial narrative befitting the woman she plays on-screen. 

A crystal-encrusted fringe gown by Sabina Bilenko. A sculptural leather Balmain number. A tropical Farm Rio moment. A silver sequin Schiaparelli dress. While the looks ranged from bright and playful to sleek and edgy, themes of strength and empowerment were always present.

Talking to Boniadi about fashion is a joy. She gets giddy recalling her recent couture-week experience, where she sat front row at Elie Saab ("The collection is just fantastical”) and attended the Schiaparelli exhibition ("It was mind-blowing what they are doing”). It’s clear she has a real love and passion for the art form. "Fashion is so important to me, and it’s not superficial,” she says. "It’s a form of self-expression that a lot of women are denied. Women in my homeland are denied and in other places around the world as well. So I think we should never take that form of freedom for granted.”

Whether it’s her persistent drive to help the people of Iran or bring more multidimensional characters to the screen, the desire to bring about change has been a consistent through line for most of Boniadi’s life. "I found my calling. Helping people doesn’t have to be one-on-one,” she says. "It can be on a more macro scale of what I’m doing as an activist and an ambassador for Amnesty, so I’m really proud to be able to use my acting platform to hopefully impact more substantive, lasting change.” 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is now streaming on Prime Video.