Reza Diako

Reza Diako is a bilingual actor (English/ Persian) of Austrian nationality and Iranian origin. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland on May 6, 1993, to Iranian parents, a painter and a businessman. When he was five, he moved to Tehran, Iran, with his parents and older sister. In 2005, at the age of twelve, the family moved to Vienna, Austria, and after three years, they moved once more and settled in London, U.K. He attended ten schools along this journey, including public and private schools in Tehran, an American Christian school in Vienna, and an international school in London. This exposed Diako, from a very early age, to a range of cultures and backgrounds which influence his acting and project choices today. He began acting in theatre productions while he was at school. At the age of 18, he attended Queen Mary University, London to study Psychology, and King's College, London for his Masters in Mental Health Studies. He also studied Psychodynamic and Jungian Developmental Psychology later on. Since 2014, Reza began formally training in acting techniques across London. Through this time, he featured in independent theatre and film projects. In 2017, he performed as part of an international cast in the Phoenix & the Crow, an Edinburgh Fringe Festival production. The following year, he further trained at the Identity School of Acting, in the Yat Malmgren Character Analysis technique at Giles Foreman Centre for Acting, in Method Acting at the London School of Method Acting, and in the Meisner technique at the Impulse Company. Diako is also traditionally trained at Mountview Drama School in London, and at the Stella Adler Studio in New York. He has also done further training at the HB Studio and with Ivana Chubbuck. In 2018, Diako went on to feature as Harry Razavi in Transparent, a feature film about homelessness in Central London. He subsequently had lead roles as Misha in Tummyache, a feature film about an ex-famous child actor struggling with addiction, winning festival awards, and as Eli in Son of Man, a theatre production reflecting on the life of Jesus Christ during his adolescence. Diako also featured in the theatre production, Fatherless Son, a drama about gang violence in the streets of London. Diako then made his way into TV projects, appearing in both seasons of Apple TV's Original International Emmy Award winning drama, Tehran, in the regular role of Shahin. He also played Henri in ITV's new series, A Spy Among Friends, and in the BBC series, Around the World in 80 Days. Diako also featured in the feature film, The Son, directed by Florian Zeller. More recently, Diako has been involved in the winning feature film of Sundance 2023 Audience Award and Best Screenwriter Award, The Persian Version, as Hamid. He also played series regular, Zak, in HBO Max and Sky Atlantic's second season of I Hate Suzie. Diako can also be seen in MBC1 and Shahid Series, London Class, in the regular role of Aslan, in a story about an Iranian family connected to the Shah, who took refuge in London. He also appears in the role of Haadee, in Guy Ritchie's feature, The Covenant. and in the Netflix Drama, The Diplomat, in the role of Basir. In his personal life, Diako devotes time to two charities, both working with young people with autism, and supporting people who are contemplating suicide, and he is an avid reader of CG Jung.