Although raised in a religious household, Mehrjui said that, at the age of 15, “The face of God gradually became a little hazy for me, and I lost my faith.”In 1959, Mehrjui moved to the United States to study at University of California, Los Angeles’ (UCLA) Department of Cinema. One of his teachers there was Jean Renoir, whom Mehrjui credited with teaching him how to work with actors. Mehrjui was dissatisfied with the film program due to its emphasis on the technical aspects of film and the quality of most of the teachers.