Craftsman of a reel identity

As Homayoun Ershadi tells it, he was an architect in Iran driving down the streets of the capital, Tehran, one day, when he pulled up to a red light and heard someone tapping on his car window.

He turned his head to see one of Iran's most famous filmmakers wishing to speak to him.

“I am Abbas Kiarostami,'' the man said, as Ershadi rolled down the window. “I want to do a film and I want you to be in it.''

Three weeks later, he was chosen to appear as — a driver in 1997's A Taste of Cherry.

The chance encounter at the traffic light would take Ershadi, who studied architecture at the University of Venice in Italy, into a second career, acting in films, TV series, made-for-television films and short films.

Today, the 60-year-old actor is co-starring in one of the season's highly anticipated dramas, The Kite Runner.

Based on Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel, The Kite Runner, directed by Marc Forster, tells the story of two childhood friends whose lives are torn apart in a divided Afghanistan on the verge of war in 1975.

After two decades of living in America, one boy, Amir, returns to his homeland, which has fallen under the harsh rule of the Taliban, in a quest to find his friend's son.

The book sold 8 million copies and garnered a loyal fan base that DreamWorks, which produced the film, and Paramount Vantage, which released it, are counting on to fuel the box office.

Ershadi is cast as Baba, a Kabul businessman who flees to the United States with his young son (played by Zekiria Ebrahimi) when the political climate in Afghanistan turns treacherous.

Powerfully natural

The director asked him to read a section of the screenplay in which Baba is hospitalised.

Forster said the power and simplicity that Ershadi brought during that reading convinced him that he was right for the part.

“The thing that is so amazing about him is that he is so natural,'' Forster said of Ershadi. “A lot of actors rely on their technique and he only relies on his heart.''

Dealings between directors and actors can range from best friends to do-it-my-way-or-the-highway screeds.

But to hear Forster and Ershadi talk, they simply rely on each other's innate competence in getting the job done.

“We sat down and read the script together and talked about it. He explained what he wanted. That was it,'' Ershadi said.

But Ershadi has not given up architecture.

He has developed high rises and town houses in Vancouver, the Canadian city where he lived for years after fleeing the revolution inside Iran in the late 1970s.