Arsi Nami
Born as Arsalan Nami, a child refugee from Shiraz, raised in Sweden, living in Los Angeles. He learned how to speak Farsi, Swedish, Dari, English, Norwegian, French and Spanish. Won international awards as an Actor, Singer, Screenwriter and a Music Therapist. He won the Jury Prize Award at 2017 Cannes International Film Festival Entr'2 Marches for his leading role in motion picture Love is Blind, portraying the visually-impaired Italian-American Giovanni. Love is Blind also won an award for disability awareness and was screened at Palais des Festival et des Congrès which is the most famous movie exhibition in the world.
His screenplay Bachata won the Jury Prize for Best Short Screenplay at the 2021 Changing Face International Film Festival in Australia and Best Short Script at 2021 New York Movie Awards.
Arsi Nami was also named as a Judge in the panel of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Cannes Film Festival International Entr'2 Marches.
He was the lead actor in Children's Hospital Los Angeles production "Healthcare in the Cloud which premiered at 2018 Society of Camera Operators Lifetime Achievement Awards with invited guests such as academy award-winning actress Meryl Streep, raising over $8 million for children's vision health.
He portrayed as the manic depressed French-American painter named Vincent, in 2017 European Cinematography Award-winning Drama motion picture Camelia.
He also received another international claim via his outstanding and comedic role as Cadiz in the award winning "Just Cause 4" commercials for Square Enix, PlayStation and Xbox, as well as his lead role in the international hit music video "Hurt People" performed by international artists Aloe Blacc and Gryffin which reached over 1 million views on VEVO and YouTube.
Arsi Nami has also been a guest-star on the Steve Harvey Show on NBCUniversal, as well as the Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. His commercial acting credits include giant brands such as Google, PlayStation, Prada, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, BMW, KIA, Ford Motor Company, Samsung, Disney, NBA, Guitar Center and Los Defensores to name a few.
He was also nominated for Best lead male actor in comedy motion picture Villa, a 2017 Official Selection at Premio Tortoreto alla Cultura in Italy, AM Film Festival in Egypt and International Festival of Short Films on Culture & Tourism, India.
His modeling work include brands such as MGM Grand, Mercedes-Benz, Prada, Carriere Menswear, ETON of Sweden, FriarTux, Mens Wearhouse and Canali.
He is a screenwriter, director and actor for motion picture "Bachata"
His music credits include music written, sang and released on Fox TV shows Bones (TV series) and The Goodwin Games [10] as well Cannes Film Festival Entr'2 Marches winning film Love is Blind [11] and Crown Prince of Heaven.
His National TV breakthrough started when he was 17 years old, participating on Sikta Mot Stjärnorna (Aiming at the Stars), a national talent show program televised on TV4 (Sweden).[1] organized by FremantleMedia (American Idol). After two auditions where 4000 participated, he became one of the 45 to enter the show acting and singing "Hero" (by Enrique Iglesias) live on national television, winning the second place award.
Arsi Nami's acting career blossomed through a silver lining leading to international awards at Film Festivals in Cannes, Los Angeles and Belgium. He took on the acting career after a car accident where he suffered from depression and pain. He attended acting workshops part of his rehabilitation. His passion for acting grew as he auditioned for the role of a blind man in motion picture Love is Blind, a population which he had been working for since he was 16 years old within healthcare and music therapy. Arsi Nami won the Jury Prize award in 2017 Cannes International Film Festival Entr'2 Marches for his leading role in motion picture Love is Blind, portraying visually-impaired Italian-American Giovanni. Love is Blind also won an award for disability awareness and was screened at Palais des Festival et des Congrès which is the most famous movie exhibition in the world.
He originally took on the career of a basketball player as he accomplished receiving 2 Most Valuable Player Awards as the best player in Jönköping during the 1995/1996 and 1996/1997 season and 1 Most Valuable Player Award as the best player of Southern Sweden during the Swedish Championship Basketball Competition in 1997/1998 season.
He learned how to play the piano by ear as a kid by sitting and watching to his oldest brother play. Michael Jackson was another idol of his which he wanted to learn from. Arsi Nami's love for music grew and he became known for "Little Michael Jackson" performing at parties and events in the city of Jonkoping in Sweden. He developed the passion for writing love poems for girls he fell in love with during middle school which he later recorded rap songs out of them. By middle school, music had increased his self-confidence to a point where he was performing in-front of large audiences. As a trivia, since middle school, Arsi Nami still knows how to rap the all the verses of Will Smith's hits songs. another childhood idol of his.
His national TV and music breakthrough came around the corner of year 2002, as he was offered to learn how to play the guitar by his high school teacher. As he gained additional music skills, he auditioned for "Aiming at the Stars" (in Swedish: Sikta Mot Stjarnorna), a national talent show program televised on TV4 (Sweden) produced by Freemantle Media ( famous for American Idol). With 3000 participants, Arsi Nami was one of the 45 to make the final stage, acting as Enrique Iglesias and singing live on television, winning the 2nd place award.
In 2006, Arsi Nami moved to Los Angeles as he was accepted to the Music program at Santa Monica College. He graduated with honors with degree in Music. In 2010, his music career started to take a different route. His brother was diagnosed by spinal cord cancer, which left his right side of body temporary paralyzed. Arsi watched his brother go through physical therapy and music therapy as part of his rehabilitation and recovery. He witnessed a family member gain motor skills in his right side of body by playing the piano, where playing the keys with his fingers made his blood flow and circulate to strengthen his fine and gross motor skills. His sibling was back to work and Arsi had found his new passion and career within Music Therapy. He auditioned for the music therapy program at California State University of Northridge and was one of the 23 students to make the program. He graduated in 2014 with Honors and Bachelor Arts degree in Music Therapy. He has since then been a philanthropist, helping people in need, helping communities. He also Co-founded a non profit organization Opportunitree to help serve individuals with disabilities, children, elderly as well as the community through with not only with use of music therapy, creative arts, but in any way to help increase their daily living skills and quality of lives. He has also been invited as a guest speaker to universities such as UCLA, California State University of Channel Islands, Northridge as well as to different cities in the U.S and major TV and Radio station to talk about music therapy and sharing his life story from Iran to Sweden to Los Angeles to inspire students and communities. He is today is listed as one of the few award winning multilingual Pop Singers and Music Therapist outside of Iran. He is also known to be the first Iranian to introduce Music Therapy to the Iranian population, where music is used to help increase quality of life for individuals with psychological and physical deficits. Arsi Nami's acting career blossomed through a silver lining leading to international awards at Film Festivals in Cannes, Los Angeles and Belgium.[15] He took on the acting career after a car accident where he suffered from depression and pain. He attended acting workshops part of his rehabilitation. His passion for acting grew as he auditioned for the role of a blind man in motion picture Love is Blind, a population which he had been working for since he was 16 years old within healthcare and music therapy. Arsi Nami won the Jury Prize award in 2017 Cannes International Film Festival Entr'2 Marches for his leading role in motion picture Love is Blind, portraying visually-impaired Italian-American Giovanni. Love is Blind also won an award for disability awareness and was screened at Palais des Festival et des Congrès which is the most famous movie exhibition in the world.
He is also an accomplished singer and songwriter with music featured on several TV Shows, films and video games. His song She Wants To Fly (feat. Levi Whalen) was featured on FOX TV show Bones on May 12, 2014. The song was originally written for Freedom In Iran during the 2009 Presidential Elections and has previously been featured on the soundtrack of Cannes Film Festival featured independent movie, Crown Prince of Heaven, in 2010.
His dance-pop song Never Be Lonely (feat. Levi Whalen) was on June 3, 2013 featured on Fox TV show The Goodwin Games, Never Be Lonely is also featured as the Official Dance track for Web Video Game Good Game Disco, made by 2012/2013 Award winning European Game developer Goodgame Studios.
His song Paradise feat. Levi Whalen, was on May 1, 2015 voted as #1 song at top 100 Indie Dance/Disco chart on Spinnin' Records Talent Pool. The song was also voted as number 1 song at March top 10 on House dance charts.
His song Miracle was featured for ten weeks on Beatport as Top Staff Pick in the pop/rock category along with Kelly Clarkson and Radiohead.His music is Pop, with his cultural musical blend of Eurodance, World Rhythms and Electronica.
Arsi Nami also joins Andrea Bocelli, The Beatles and Elvis Presley for releasing Consuelo Velázquez famous song Besame Mucho, which makes it the first Duo/Latin Dance version in history of this Public Domain song, produced by Levi Whalen and co-sung with singer Jacqueline Padilla
On April 27th 2012, Arsi Nami became the first artist to release his Pop Electronic and Progressive House rendition of world famous Italian song Caro Mio Ben featuring UK based producer Kryphon. Caro Mio Ben was written by italian composer Giuseppe Giordani, and famous by artists such as Luciano Pavarotti.
On January 14, 2012, Arsi Nami was signed by Music Publishing company Winogradsky/Sobel and Dearth Music to have his music pitched for Television, Film, Video Games etc. becoming the first artist in the company representing Pop, Dance and World Music
His music also listed on FairShareMusic, with profits going to human rights and health support organizations such as: Red Cross, War Child, Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Amnesty, Cancer Care & Research.