Interview with Shila Ommi

TV Interview!

 

Shila Ommi, star of the Disney/Pixar film "Elemental"

Interview with Shila Ommi of the movie “Elemental” and “Tehran” on Apple TV+ by Suzanne 6/15/23

It was really fun to speak with Shila. The movie looks really good (and great for kids). I saw the trailer last week when I went to see “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” Shila plays Cinder, the mom of the main character, Ember (Leah Lewis).

 

MORE INFO: Official Site Trailer

"Elemental" key art

CINDER LUMEN (Shila Ommiis Firetown’s resident matchmaker, utilizing her natural gift that allows her to smell true love in a Fire person’s smoke, whether they know it or not. She boasts numerous matches throughout her tenure—she’s proud of her track record—but this brusque, no-nonsense and traditional mom has yet to find a match for her daughter.  Elsewhere audiences can see Shila Ommi on the Apple TV+ espionage thriller, “Tehran.” Shila Ommi is one of the returning co-stars of Apple TV+, espionage thriller, “Tehran,” now streaming season two now on Apple TV+.  Ommi portrays the character of Nahid Kamali, the wife of Shaun Toub’s character Faraz Kamali (a skilled investigator with the Revolutionary Guards), and she also shared the screen with the iconic Glenn Close, and in season two. The heart pounding “Tehran,” which has earned the comparison in the media already of “24” meets “The Americans,” is must watch TV at it’s finest.

Shila Ommi is an American/ actress, born in Tehran, and has lived in Los Angeles since onslaught of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.  Her mother was a poet and her father a philanthropist, real estate mogul, and the founder and CEO of Iran’s largest construction company, Vima Co.  At an early age, Ommi witnessed the wrath of the Islamic regime. Ommi’s father was also on their hit list, but her family had the chance to flee the country, leaving behind their wealth and all their belongings to begin a new life in the United States.

Today, Shila Ommi is a prominent actress in the Iranian communities in diaspora.  For over a decade, she toured the globe as the lead actress and co-artistic director of Workshop 79, a theatre company spearheaded by acclaimed Iranian playwright/director/actor Houshang Touzie (“A Simple Wedding,” “Argo”). The founder of the LA based theater group, Turquoise Heart Productions,  Ommi uses theater art as a form of healing and activism, writes, directs, and acts in theatre pieces that share the Iranian experience with American audiences, and the exile experience with Iranians abroad. She is recently directed a play commissioned by the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health.

Ommi portrays the character Nahid, in the acclaimed espionage thriller, “Tehran,” with seasons 1 & 2 streaming now on Apple TV+ . She portrayed the character of Yasmin in the Apple TV+ anthology series “Little America” co-starring with Shaun Toub (who is also her screen husband in “Tehran”).  Ommi is also a voice-over artist and performs regularly in animated films and web series.  She is the voice of all the characters, male and female in a cartoon series called “NOPM: Special Forces” which was commissioned by the Boromand Foundation, a human rights organization focused on Iran’s human rights violations. She is narrating a video about deforestation, and a film about Iran… both coming out by the end of this year.

Elemental

PG

June 16, 2023

Animation

Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” is an all-new, original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air residents live together. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.

  • Directed By

    Peter Sohn
  • Produced By

    Denise Ream

Cast

Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie

Rated PG

Proofread and Edited by Brenda

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Cinder - portrayed by Shila Ommi in "Elemental"

 

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