BEVERLY HILLS, California - Iranian Oscar nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo said Monday her nod was a 'miracle' but that she would be bearing the weight of her entire nation when she turns up at this month's show.
"It's happiness personified" to be nominated for cinema's highest awards, said the 50-something year-old actress who emigrated from her homeland after the shah was deposed by the Islamic revolution of 1979.
"It's just a dream coming true. For an actress coming all the way from Persia ... it's a miracle, I'm really happy," she told journalists before a luncheon thrown for this year's crop of nominees for the Academy Awards.
But she said, the honour meant that she would be carrying the weight of her whole country on her shoulders as she becomes the focus of "big discussions" in media beamed to the country she left a quarter of a century ago.
"It gives me a lot of support, but it's like Greek mythology, because unfortunately it's too much pressure on my shoulders, but I take it all well because I enjoy it and I'm proud of what I do," the actress said.
But Aghdashloo, nominated for her role opposite Sir Ben Kingsley in the taut drama "House and Sand and Fog," dismissed speculation that she would be wearing any Iranian costume when she attends Hollywood's biggest awards.
"We do not have such a thing as an 'Iranian dress,'" she said. "People are pro-modernization. We joined the rest of the world almost 100 years ago and we wear the same clothes."
Instead, the British-educated Aghdashloo will be draped in Valentino on her big night.
But whether she wins the Oscar or not, the actress said her career had already been given a boost by her nomination and that screenplays had been "pouring in" since the nominations were unveiled on January 27.
"For the past 26 years, I have been pretty fussy about the roles I play," Aghdashloo said. "The roles I have been looking for have humanitarian messages or some nice messages."
She faces competition from Renee Zellweger, nominated for her supporting role "Cold Mountain," from Patricia Clarkson for "Pieces of April," Holly Hunter for her part in the teen drama "Thirteen" and former Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden for "Mystic River."
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