STATUS:  Guest Contributor

About the Author

Born and raised in the DC area, Vida Ghaffari comes from a long line of diplomats, scholars, actors/directors, writers, and poets. Vida's goal is to uphold the family tradition through the arts and the media. As a print journalist, she has written for the Iran Times International 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. As a TV host, Vida has been active on the Tinseltown scene reporting from many Hollywood red carpets as an entertainment correspondent. She currently works as a host on exclusive film premieres and galas for the popular online media station MaximoTV.com. She is also working as an interviewer on the upcoming "Bob Baker Puppet Maker" documentary with noted Director of Photography Tony Palmieri ("ER,""Monk") and talented hyphenate Producer-Director Robert Rothbard ("The Office,""Fish Without a Bicycle"). Baker is a legendary marionette puppeteer with nearly eight decades of experience who has worked with the likes of Walt Disney, Salvador Dali, and Marcel Marceau. She also teamed up with Palmieri and Rothbard to do the exclusive interviews for the DVD featurette of the much anticipated indie film "Pizza With Bullets," which has a large ensemble cast consisting of Talia Shire ("The Godfather,""Rocky"), Vincent Pastore ("The Sopranos"), actress and model Caroline D'Amore among others. She has also worked as an on-air host and an associate producer for ATV's (Andisheh) "Cinema Now" and "City of Angels" shows. Vida has also worked as an actress in numerous indie films and has done a lot of voice over work. She recently played an Iraqi wife in an episode of Comedy Central's "Mind of Mencia." She has acted in many plays at established Hollywood venues such as the Zephyr Theatre and Theatre/Theater. She also has a 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 done improv and sketch shows at Improv Olympic West, The Second City Los Angeles, and Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Los Angeles. She has also studied longform improv at UCB. She is also a voiceover artist and is the voice of Singular magazine. She has also done voiceover work for Fidelity Investments. 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 the school's magazine, the Campus Crier. She also worked for WUSA, the CBS affiliate in Washington DC. Vida is excited and proud to be working with such a dedicated and talented group as the staff at PersianMirror. She lives in Sherman Oaks, California. For more info on Vida, please go to www.vidaghaffari.com