Merila Zarei

Acting

Merila Zarei

Born 1974-04-14 · Tehran, Iran

Merila Zarei (مریلا زارعی) was born on 14 April 1974. She is an Iranian actress famous for A Separation, About Elly, Hush! Girls Don't Scream, Two Women, Track 143, the Fifth Reaction, Keifar, The Unwanted Woman and The Outcast. She graduated from Azad University of Tehran. During her studies Merila Zarei became interested in acting through Ezatollah Entezami's acting courses. Her first movie was in Ali Asghar Shadravan's Patak. She received the Crystal Simorgh for the best actress in a supporting role for The Friday's Soldiers from the 22nd Fajr International Film Festival. More recently, Merila Zarei appeared in Ebrahim Hatamiki a's 2016 feature film 'Bodyguard' and Reza Mirkarimi's multi award winning movie 'Daughter'.

Acting credits

A Separation poster
7.9

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

A Separation

2011

About Elly poster
7.5

The mysterious disappearance of a kindergarten teacher during a picnic in the north of Iran is followed by a series of misadventures for her fellow travelers.

About Elly

2009

Moses The Kalimullah: At Dawn poster
6.5

A Pharaoh dreams of a future conqueror who will threaten his rule. As persecution begins, Moses is born secretly and rescued from Infanticide. Raised under divine guidance, he matures to confront tyranny and lead his people toward liberation.

Moses The Kalimullah: At Dawn

2025

The Bear poster
5.5

During Iran-Iraq war Noor Aldin who is a carpenter is missing. He is captured by Iraqi army. After 8 years he returns home, but finds out that in his absence his wife is married to another man.

The Bear

2012

Invitation poster
3.0

a film about how attitude dissimilar family against abortion .....

Invitation

2008

The Fifth Reaction poster
5.8

Fereshteh loses her home and her two sons after her husband's accidental death when Hadj Safdar, her stubborn and powerful father-in-law, forces her to return to her parents. She is faced with the loss of her visitation rights when Hadj plans to send his grandchildren to live in a remote town. With the help of her circle of women friends she tries to take them beyond his reach, but in a patriarchal society it is hard to find a safe haven.

The Fifth Reaction

2003

Gita poster
4.0

Gita' juxtaposes the ups and downs experienced by a couple (Gita and Amir) whose routine life is faced with despair due to their son's trip abroad. The lead role Gita encounters serious challenges and her life is accompanied with unexpected events.

Gita

2016

The Other poster
3.0

his movie follows a boy who lives with his mother in a village. The boy has lost his father and needs to travel to Tehran with his soon to be stepfather.

The Other

2010

Friday's Soldiers poster
4.0

The story of four soldiers who on a Friday go to the city with their commander. But this Friday is different and brings many troubles for them which changes them forever.

Friday's Soldiers

2004

Distress poster
NR

It is about a woman named Mahtab who suffers from depression and mental illness after the death of her father. Mahtab's husband, Ehsan, builds a house outside the city for her recovery, but Mahtab's illness worsens upon entering this house.

Distress

2006

Shirin poster
6.2

A hundred and fourteen famous Iranian theater and cinema actresses and a French star: mute spectators at a theatrical representation of Khosrow and Shirin, a Persian poem from the twelfth century, put on stage by Kiarostami. The development of the text -- long a favorite in Persia and the Middle East -- remains invisible to the viewer of the film, the whole story is told by the faces of the women watching the show.

Shirin

2009

Movie mania poster
NR

Mr. Moghadam, a film director, visits a mental hospital one day and asks the hospital authorities to admit a schizophrenic patient. The authorities ask: Who is the patient? Moghadam answers: Myself. In the hospital, Moghadam remembers that he went to a producer to make a movie, and the producer mentioned the condition of making the movie that his tender and romantic script would be transformed into a violent and eventful one, which would of course be a big seller. Moghadam is forced to accept. But a few days later, with the change in government policies regarding film and cinema; the "producer" does not consider the new script worthy of production because it is violent and eventful. Until.....

Movie mania

2003

Bodyguard poster
5.0

A government bodyguard protects a politician from a suicide bomber, and then begins to question his dedication to his job.

Bodyguard

2016

Track 143 poster
6.1

Olfat is raising her children in hardship. She has one daughter and one son called Yonos who works in Kerman copper mine. One day, she finds a note at home with this massage "My friends and I are going to enter the war as soldiers". After reading this note, Olfat and his friend's parents got worried about their sons. When operation Valfajr failed, they received news about Yonos's friend. Olfat is waiting for her son too. As she finds out that the Iraqi radio announces the Iranian captives' names, she ties a radio on her back and carries it everywhere.

Track 143

2014

The Singles poster
2.0

Amir Hossein, Manouchehr, and Shahkar are young and unmarried who decide to go to Emirates in order to find well-paid jobs. Unfortunately, Shahkar gets mugged by a motor rider and they lose all of their money. Shahkar's uncle suggests them working in a workshop owned by a young lady called Ms. Arabshahi. She has one condition though, that they should pass her tests.

The Singles

2004

Equation poster
2.0

A genius math student, Bizhan, falls in love with a classmate, Zohre. Zohre's parents postpone their marriage till Bizhan, who has been raised in an Orphanage, finds his never-known parents.

Equation

2003

Retribution poster
NR

After the execution of a man, his brother tries to find those responsible for the death of his brother.

Retribution

2010

Daughter poster
5.7

A young girl leaves her hometown in south of Iran for a half day trip without permission of his strict father to attend a close friend's goodbye party. In her way back home hazy weather changes all she planned.

Daughter

2016

Israfil poster
4.8

When Mahi's son dies in a car accident, Behrouz who has returned to Iran to sell his properties, attends the funeral. Their old romance catches up while Behrouz has planned to marry Sara and go back to Canada with her.

Israfil

2017

Israfil poster
4.8

When Mahi's son dies in a car accident, Behrouz who has returned to Iran to sell his properties, attends the funeral. Their old romance catches up while Behrouz has planned to marry Sara and go back to Canada with her.

Israfil

2017

Hush! Girls Don't Scream poster
6.6

Hours before her scheduled marriage, young bride-to-be Shirin murders a man. The crime is completely unexpected and goes against everything we know of her. We learn that Shirin has had two unsuccessful marriage attempts, and is deeply psychologically troubled. But as the dark secrets in her past are slowly revealed, exposing a childhood of neglect, abuse, and the tragic history of two previous failed marriages, the characters must face their own battles with justice, retribution, and morality.

Hush! Girls Don't Scream

2013

Under the Smokey Roof poster
4.4

Shirin is a woman facing problems in her marriage and with her child. She's trying desperately for a way to connect with her son and her husband.

Under the Smokey Roof

2017

Two Women poster
5.0

A sensation when released in 1999 in Iran, Two Women charts the lives of two promising architecture students over the course of the first turbulent years of the Islamic Republic. Tahimine Milani creates this scathing portrait of those traditions - aided by official indifference - which conspire to trap women and stop them from realizing their full potential; the inclusion of frank depictions of domestic violence was hailed by many as a breakthrough in dealing with a long taboo subject.

Two Women

1999

Che poster
5.6

Two days in the life of Mostafa Chamran, Iran's first post-revolutionary defense minister, as he attempts to prevent the city of Paveh from falling to Kurdish separatists in 1979.

Che

2014