Acting

I have been actively drawing, painting, and creating art for the past 33 years. My inspiration in creating art was partly a mental reaction to dealing with the political circumstances of 1979 Iranian revolution and leaving Iran prematurely at age of 11 to attend boarding school in Hastings, England. The other underlying reason for my inspiration for creating art was tied to understanding why I was here on this earth and what was my purpose in living. After attending 4 years of boarding school in England, I came to the United States. I completed BSc in Chemical Engineering, MSc in Civil Engineering, and recently finished my Juris Doctor degree in Law. During all the years I continued to draw and paint actively, showing at galleries in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I work with mixed media including pen and ink, acrylic, and oils. I have also worked with plaster and ceramics. In 2008, I started the ATUSSA Clothing label (www.atussa.com) that was based on my pen and ink work. My vision was that art belongs to the masses and when art is worn, the person becomes a walking, breathing, living canvas. The name ATUSSA was based on the Persian Queen Atussa (Daughter of Cyrus, wife of Darius, and mother of Xerxes) for her leadership, strength, and command of the Persian empire during the absence of the King. Today, Atussa has grown in many dimensions and ATUSSA stands for “A True Understanding of Seductively Sexy Art”. It has become a platform of a select group of artist to showcase their art and talent. The clothing label is divided into the Express line featuring my original pen and inks printed on clothing garments, and the Couture line featuring one-of-a-kind clothing garments that are hand-made, hand-drawn, and hand- stitched with chain-mail and other art forms. Today we are one of San Francisco’s leading independent fashion designers with our signature style participating in numerous fashion shows and have an ongoing virtual store (www.atussastore.com). I have been successfully performing live art for the past 2 years at events for entertainment, cultural, political, and humanitarian organizations. I never plan any piece that I start and the art is inspired by the theme or cause, music, and the energy at the event. The pieces are usually sold at the venue or donated to the cause. My style has evolved over the 3 decades of my artistic expression and my latest style is a combination of pen and ink with acrylic and oils. The inspiration for my art today is my thirst for life, my active lifestyle, and a continuing spiritual journey. I have been teaching indoor cycle for the last 3 years and love inspiring people to be more active, healthy, and confident in themselves. I completed my first Ironman 70.3 event (triathlon-1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.2 mile run) this year in California and I am training for the Kona World Championship Ironman in 2012.

Theatre actor & dancer,act & dance in 12 performance,act in some short film.

Vida Ghaffari has been active on the Tinsel town scene as an actress and a reporter. She just shot a supporting role in the indie film “Shirin in Love” starring headlining comics George Wallace and Maz Jobrani. Vida has worked alongside a couple of well known child stars. She shot a supporting role in an indie film called “The Bilderberg Club” with Allison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) of “Little House on the Prairie” as well as acting with Jeremy Miller (Ben Seaver) of “Growing Pains” in a TV pilot. She has also played an Iraqi wife in an episode of Comedy Central’s “Mind of Mencia.” Vida also made her web series debuts in two comedic projects. In “Alternative Brother,” she plays a flashy damsel in distress and in “Green Manor,” she will act along side Tony Moran, the original Mike Myers from “Halloween.” She has also acted in many plays at established Hollywood venues such as the Zephyr Theatre and Theatre/Theater. She also has a very strong background in comedy as an improviser, stand-up, and sketch comic. She has performed stand-up at the Improv and the Comedy Store. She has performed in improv and sketch shows at prestigious theatres such as Improv Olympic West, The Second City Los Angeles, and Upright Citizens Brigade Los Angeles (UCB). She has also studied longform improv at UCB. Ghaffari is also a voiceover artist and is the voice of Singular Magazine. She has also done voiceover work for Fidelity Investments and other companies. This multi-talented performer also works as an entertainment correspondent for GEM TV. She reports from many Hollywood red carpet film premieres and galas interviewing a wide range of celebrities such as Oscar winners Cuba Gooding Jr. and Melissa Leo, Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Miley Cyrus to internationally known musicians such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Chris Isaak . She has worked for various media outlets such as the popular online media station MaximoTV.com as well as being an on-air host and an associate producer for ATV’s (Andisheh) “Cinema Now” and “City of Angels” shows. Born and raised in the DC area, she comes from a long line of diplomats, scholars, actors/directors, writers, and poets. Ghaffari wants to uphold the family tradition through the arts and the media. As a print journalist, she has written for the Iran Times International, the Persian Mirror, and Namak Magazine as well as many local papers in the DC metropolitan area. She has received research and writing grants from the Woodrow Wilson Center and the National Journalism Center among others. She has a BA in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park with a minor in Journalism and Theatre. While she was studying at the U of M, she wrote for the Diamondback newspaper that had a student readership of over 40,000, as well as hosting her own show on WMUC, the campus radio station. She has also worked for WUSA, the CBS affiliate in Washington DC.