Nazanin Boniadi (/ˈnɑːzəniːn ˈboʊnjɑːdi/; Persian: نازنین بنیادی‎, [nɑːzæˈniːn bonjɑːˈdiː]; born 22 May 1980)[1] is an English actress and human rights defender. Born in Iran and raised in London, she went to university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role as Leyla Mir in the medical drama General Hospital (2007–2009) and its spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift (2007). Since then, she is best known for playing Fara Sherazi in the Showtime spy thriller series Homeland (2013–2014), Esther in the historical drama film Ben-Hur (2016), Clare Quayle in the Starz sci-fi thriller series Counterpart (2017–2018), and Zahra Kashani in the action thriller film Hotel Mumbai (2018). Boniadi was an Amnesty International spokesperson from 2009 to 2015 and has been a board member of the Center for Human Rights in Iran since 2015.