Ali Abbasi (director)

Ali Abbasi (Persian: علی عباسی, born 1981) is an Iranian-Danish filmmaker. He is known for his films Shelley (2016), Border (2018), Holy Spider (2022), and The Apprentice (2024). Abbasi also directed the last two episodes of the first season of the series The Last of Us. He has received various accolades, including an Un Certain Regard award, four Robert Awards, and a German Film Award, in addition to nominations for seven European Film Awards, a Goya Award, and two Guldbagge Awards. His films have also been nominated for multiple Academy Awards.

Early life

Abbasi attended Tehran Polytechnic until 2002, when he emigrated to Sweden to study architecture at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. After earning his bachelor of arts in 2007, he enrolled at the National Film School of Denmark, earning a degree in 2011 with the short film M for Markus.

Abbasi lives in Copenhagen and continues to hold an Iranian passport.

Career

2018: Border

In 2018, Abbasi premiered his second film, Border. It won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival, was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Although the film didn't get a nomination in that category, it earned a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

2022: Holy Spider

His third feature film, Holy Spider, came out in 2022 and was a Persian-language co-production between Sweden, Denmark, France, and Germany. Based on the true story of Saeed Hanaei, a serial killer who targeted sex workers and killed sixteen women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran, the film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating a serial killer.

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on 22 May 2022. Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who starred in the film, won the festival's Best Actress Award. The film was selected as the Danish entry for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, and made the December shortlist.

2024: The Apprentice

Abbasi's latest film, The Apprentice, a portrait of a young Donald Trump, premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The film was nominated for two Oscars at the 97th Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Sebastian Stan and Best Supporting Actor for Jeremy Strong.

Groping allegation

In February 2025, Abbasi was accused of groping an unnamed actor at a Golden Globes after-party hosted by Creative Artists Agency (CAA). No named witnesses publicly came forward about the alleged incident, however. Abbasi himself released a statement clarifying his account of what occurred. Initial reports suggested that Abbasi was dropped by his own representatives at CAA as well as by his management and legal teams, due to the incident, but Abbasi clarified in his statement that he himself had ended those relationships in "a long-term career decision".