- His film A Separation (2011) is the first Iranian movie to win an Oscar.
- One of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World (2012).
- First Iranian Director to be nominated for Academy Awards in any other category except Best Foreign Language Film.
- First Iranian filmmaker to receive a nomination for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award ("Best Film Not in the English Language," A Separation (2011)).
- Father of Sarina Farhadi who played Termeh, the 11-year-old Daughter of Nader and Simin, in A Separation (2011).
- On March 12, 2012, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance prevented a ceremony that was arranged by Iranian directors and producers to honor Farhadi's Oscar accomplishment upon his arrival in Iran.
- He is married to Parisa Bakhtavar and has two daughters Sarina and Saghar.
- References Bertolt Brecht, Akira Kurosawa, and Ingmar Bergman as his inspirations.
- His ten favorite films are Rashomon (1950), The Big Road (1935), The Godfather (1972), Tokyo Story (1953), The Apartment (1960), Three Colors: Red (1994), Take the Money and Run (1969), Persona (1966), Taxi Driver (1976), and Modern Times (1936).
- First Iranian director to be nominated for more than one Academy Award.
- Member of the Official Competition jury at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in 2012.
- Shot his first 8-mm and 16-mm films as a teenager, and had already made five short films by the time he went to Tehran University and got his Bachelor and Master degree in theatre directing.
- Boycotted the Academy Award ceremony in 2017 in protest of what was then a newly enacted travel ban from Donald Trump.
- Is one of a select list of directors who have won the Best Foreign Film Oscar more than once. The others are Vittorio de Sica and Federico Fellini (four times each), Ingmar Bergman (three times), and René Clément and Akira Kurosawa (twice each).
- Was chosen a Foreign Policy "Top 100 Global Thinker" in 2012.
- Received the Legion of Honour from France in 2012.
- Has 3 brothers.
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