FIROOZ ZAHEDI

FIROOZ ZAHEDI

Born in Tehran in 1949. Firooz Zahedi grew up in England where he received his secondary education. He came to the United States in 1969 and studied international relations at Georgetown University. Zahedi worked as a Diplomat at the Iranian Embassy. He resigned in 1974 to pursue an art degree from the Corcoran School of Art. In 1975 he met Andy Warhol who appointed him as the Washington D.C. correspondent for Interview Magazine. In 1976 he met Elizabeth Taylor and Travelled and photographed her in Iran. The photos were used by Warhol for a cover story on Elizabeth Taylor in his publication. At this point his friendship with Dame Elizabeth led to his becoming her personal photographer and went with her to Hollywood to work on a film set. He chose to stay in Los Angeles and built a career as one of Hollywood’s top portrait photographers. His editorial work has been seen in a wide variety of magazines including Vanity Fair, Vogue, GQ, Town & Country, Time, Glamour, and his architectural and interiors images have been seen in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor & House Beautiful. Moreover his award winning film advertising work includes the posters for Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty and Edward Scissorhands. His fine art photography has been shown at various galleries in the U.S. including LTMH and the Staley Wise Galleries in New York. His work appears in two books published by Vanity Fair Magazine: “Hollywood” and “Portraits”. The latter was also a traveling exhibit that was shown at the national Portrait Gallery in London as well as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2008. In 2011 LACMA presented an exhibition of his photographs titled “Elizabeth Taylor in Iran 1976” which they acquired for their permanent collection. In 2001 Firooz was honored by the Encyclopedia Iranica at its Washington D.C. gala. He lives in Los Angeles.