Marjane Satrapi

As Satrapi explains in her graphic memoirs, she was born in Rasht, Iran to middle-class parents. Her mother and father were liberal and politically active. They sent young Satrapi to a French language school in Tehran until the Iranian Revolution began in 1979. Over the course of the Revolution, many of the Satrapis’ family friends were killed by the various regimes that ruled Iran. Fearing for her safety, her parents sent Satrapi to Vienna to study in 1984 (this is when the events of Persepolis 2 begin). After four years, Satrapi returned to Iran, was married briefly to a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, and obtained her master’s degree from Islamic Azad University. Finally, when Satrapi was 23, she returned to Europe to reside in Strasbourg, France. In 2000, she began publishing her series of Persepolis novels in French, which catapulted her to fame. After publishing several other award-winning graphic novels, Satrapi turned to filmmaking. She directed the film adaptation of Persepolis, which was met with exceptional reviews when it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Satrapi also directed the live-action horror film The Voices, for which she and actor Ryan Reynolds won several awards. Satrapi lives in Paris.