Interesting Facts About Mozhan Marno and Why She Left The Blacklist

Quick Facts

Mozhan Marno is an American-born actress and voice-over artist, who has become a household name in Hollywood due to her versatility and appearances in popular television shows such as House of Cards and The Blacklist. She received incredible reviews for Nine Parts of Desire a one-woman show where she portrayed 9 different Middle Eastern Women.

The well-read actress passed through the Phillips Academy, Massachusetts, before proceeding to obtain her Bachelor of Arts degree in German and French Comparative Literature from the Barnard College of Columbia University. She also has a Master of Arts degree from the prestigious Yale School of Drama. With all her education, it’s no wonder she is regarded as one of the bright minds in the film industry. Mozhan, who is of Iranian descent, is also a very good writer with some screenplays to her credit.

Mozhan Marno’s Career Exploits and The Blacklist Role

The actress began her professional acting career in 2006 featuring in a television show titled The Unit, in which she played the role of a protocol chief. She has gone on to feature in other television shows such as House of Cards, Madam Secretary, The Mentalist, and The Paul Riser Show, among others. Marno made her movie acting debut in 2007, appearing as a translator in a Refugee camp in the film Charlie Wilson’s War. She has also appeared in movies such as Traitor, The Stoning of Soraya M, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and a few others.

Mozhan Marno joined the cast of The Blacklist in 2014, while the show was just beginning its second season. She played the role of Samar Navabi, a Mossad agent working with the FBI under Cooper’s leadership. Her character on the acclaimed show is of Iranian descent like the actress and recruited by Mossad following the mistreatment and killing of her parents by the Iranian regime. From 2014 to 2019, she appeared in 103 episodes of The Blacklist before taking a bow.

Why Did She Leave The Cast Of The Blacklist?

The actress left the cast of The Blacklist for one of two main probable reasons – personal (off-screen) and/or professional (on-screen) reasons.

After the final episode of the 6th season of The Blacklist, Mozhan Marno took to her Instagram handle and stated that she felt it was time for her to leave the cast of the show and focus on some other endeavors. So, she made her wishes known to the producers of the show, who respected her decision and allowed her to exit the show when she needed to.

Professionally, the producers and writers of The Blacklist had to find a creative way to make Mozhan’s character, Samar Navabi, “retire” from the show. Earlier in the season, Samar was involved in an automobile accident, that left her submerged underwater for a while. During this auto crash and her underwater submersion, Samar’s brain was starved of oxygen for a few minutes and this led to a degenerative condition, identified as vascular dementia – leading to several small strokes, which was gradually weakening her brain capacity.

Her employers, after learning of her medical condition, decided to put a hit out on her, fearing that she could be forced to spill out vital information about the modus operandi of the agency that she was working for. To save herself, she came up with a plan to escape from town and start a new life elsewhere, for which she enlisted the help of Red to make her escape/disappearance happen. She was eventually able to leave town but left her fiancé, Aram behind, despite initially planning to run away with him.

What Has Marno Been Up To Since She Left The Blacklist?

Mozhan’s character on The Blacklist, Mossad agent Samar Navabi, left the show at the end of the 6th season, sometime in March 2019. Since then, the actress has never stopped doing well in her career. She has featured in other movies, including Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, playing the role of Doctor Cyber. Marno has also starred in a soon-to-be-released movie titled “iCreep,” playing the role of Detective Rivera, and from the feelers in Hollywood, this movie is currently in the post-production stage.

She has also lent her talent to the production of a few audiobook recordings, including “The Stationery Shop” and “The Other Americans,” both of which were released in 2019.

Other Facts You Didn’t Know About Mozhan Marno

• She is Multi-lingual

Mozhan understands and can speak about 6 languages fluently. She is of Persian descent, hence she can speak Farsi fluently. While at the university, she mentioned that she learned both German and French languages. She can also speak English, Spanish, and Italian languages fluently.

• Her audition made her a fan of The Blacklist even before joining the cast

Mozhan didn’t know much about the show before she auditioned to be a cast member. Her initial plan was just to make a few guest appearances on the show, but after her audition, she began watching previous episodes of the show and became hooked on it.

• Nominations and Awards

The beautiful actress has received 2 nominations for roles she has played over the years. In 2009, at the Satellite Awards, she was nominated as the Best Supporting Actress – motion picture category for her role in the film, The Stoning of Soraya M. She was again nominated in 2015 by the Screen Actors Guild Awards for the Award of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for her role in the television series, House of Cards.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.