Desiree Akhavan (1984) is an Iranian-American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor located in New York. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut, Appropriate Behavior.

Biography

Early life
Born and raised in upstate New York to Iranian immigrant parents who left the country following the Iranian Revolution in 1980 and now identify as American As a child Akhavan grew up learning about American culture through watching TV shows and movies During childhood she often felt left out despite having a strong sense of humour She began writing plays when she was 10 years old and began acting in plays at 13 years old Akhavan went to a Bronx prep school and had a tough time as a teenager for being considered weird and was often ignored by her peers. She continued to write plays as a teenager When she was young Akhavan wanted to work in theatre but later changed to studying film because it gave her more control over her content


Education
Akhavan studied film and theatre at Smith College, the prestigious all-women’s college in Massachusetts, where she was a bit of a loner. At 22 she studied film directing at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and spent a year studying abroad at Queen Mary, University of London.

Akhavan identifies herself as a bisexual woman. After coming out to her parents at age 24 they had a hard time adjusting to the news for about a year but they now accept her sexuality because of the work she has done Her films often have scenes filmed at her parent’s house and they contributed by feeding the cast and crew Her family is very supportive of her. Akhavan has acted, directed, and written several pieces over the past few years as listed below.