Mahsa Ghorbankarimi

Mahsa Ghorbankarimi grew up in Tehran, Iran. Mahsa is married to Alexander Gorelick, a Jewish-Canadian director of animation. She is the eldest daughter of animation filmmakers Mahvash Tehrani and Hosseinali Ghorbankarimi. Mahsa and Alex together have a daughter, Mina. From a young age she was introduced to the art of cinema in her parent's production studio and raised with the perspective that art, storytelling and the wisdom of the ages can be found in those who have seen much, done much and who have traveled the world over. As a young person Mahsa traveled to Asia, Europe and North America. She lived through the Iranian Revolution followed by eight years of war, events that changed the entire fabric of a society and every individual therein. By the time she was a young woman, Mahsa had experienced enough geographic, cultural and sociopolitical diversity and adversity to make her keenly aware of the nature of things and the nature of mankind. Her parents taught her the language of cinema through the work of renowned filmmakers including Akira Kurosawa, Francis Ford Coppola, Alfred Hitchcock, Bahram Beizai, Sam Peckinpah, Abbas Kiarostami and Dariush Mehrjui. Mahsa took every opportunity to explore the arts, dance and dramatic theatre. She received a full scholarship to Tehran University - placing third in the country's nation-wide Concourse Entrance Examination. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and immigrated to Canada to pursue a career in film and visual-effects. She received Diplomas in Computer Animation and Technical Direction from Sheridan College. In 2015, Mahsa expanded her credits by writing, directing and acting in the indie thriller feature Luciferous - a springboard film that led to her being cast in the lead role for the Australian feature Journey, and followed by a principal role in the Canadian feature Tehranto. Over the years Mahsa has worked on many feature films and award-winning television projects in Lead/Supervisory capacities including Direction and CG Supervision - Projects include Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy, Suicide Squad, and The Glorias. Mahsa has two siblings, both filmmakers. Her brother Mohammad Ghorbankarimi is writer/director of the award winning feature The Desert Fish (2013). Her sister Maryam Ghorbankarimi is director of the short Ties (2005). Her mother Mahvash Tehrani is recognized as Iran's first female cinematographer.