Maryam Zaree is an actress, writer and director. She was born in 1983 in the political prison Evin in Tehran. At the age of two, her mother fled with her to Frankfurt/Main.

She completed her acting training at the Potsdam-Babelsberg Film University and played roles in many cinema and television productions, such as Shahada (Competition, 60th Berlinale), I’m not him (Best Film, Istanbul Film Festival 2012), Systemsprenger (Silver Bear, 69th Berlinale) and Undine (Competition, 70th Berlinale). For her acting performance in the award-winning series 4 Blocks, she won the Grimme Award in 2018. Her first feature film, the documentary Born in Evin, premiered at the Berlinale 2019 and screened in over 40 countries, winning the Compass Perspective Award at the Berlinale and the Lola, the German Film Award, the biggest award in German film, among many other prizes.