Without question, the most defining role of Saghar Azizi’s career was her portrayal of Farah Pahlavi in the television series The Mystery of the King, released in 2015. This historical role brought her unprecedented fame but also intense scrutiny, criticism, and personal cost.
Azizi has explained that the director first noticed her resemblance to Farah Pahlavi during the filming of another project. Months later, while she was traveling to Shahroud for work on the series Yalda, she received a call requesting that she return for a makeup test for The Mystery of the King. After numerous auditions, costume tests, and periods of uncertainty, she was ultimately selected for the role by director Mohammad Reza Varzi.
The physical demands of the role were extreme. Azizi has described the elaborate makeup, heavy masks, and glittering, historically accurate costumes as exhausting and physically painful. Each filming session could involve more than ten hours of preparation for scenes that lasted only a few minutes on screen.
Emotionally, the role was equally demanding. Azizi has identified the most difficult sequence as the portrayal of the royal couple’s escape from the country. To convey the exhaustion, fear, and emotional collapse of that moment, she went without sleep and cried continuously for nearly 48 hours during filming. This level of emotional immersion left her physically drained and psychologically vulnerable.
