Mohammad-Ali Behboudi was born on 23 August 1956 in Iran.
Since 1984 lives and works in Germany. In 1993 he founded the independent “Welt-Theater” in Cologne, which he still directs today. Various engagements also take him to Stuttgart, Hamburg, Zurich, Wuppertal and Bonn, He can also be seen outside the theatre in numerous TV and cinema productions, including Tatort – Amoklauf (ARD), Solo für Sudmann (ZDF), Männer wie wir (feature film, director: Sherry Hormann), Ein todsicher Ding (ZDF), Danni Lowinski (SAT 1), Alles aus Liebe (RTL), 300 Worte German, (feature film, director: Züli Aladag),Tatort – Türkischer Honig (ARD), Glückskind (TV movie, Director: Michael Verhoeven, ARD), Alarm für Cobra 11, (RTL), Großstadtrevier (ARD), Nobel (Norwegian series, director: Per Olav Sörensen Monster Company),Tatort- Sturm (ARD), Das dritte Sterben (feature film, director: Philipp Leinemann). Ein Fall für Zwei, (ZDF), Julia muss sterben, (feature film, directed by Marco Gadge) From 1995 to 2012 he was a permanent member of the ensemble at Theater Oberhausen.
Since summer 2012 he has been working as a freelance actor and director. In 2016 he played the role of Sultan Saladin in “Nathan the Wise” by Lessing at the Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg and in 2018 “Der gute Mensch von Szuan” by Bertoldt Brecht directed by Wolf-Dietrich Sprenger. In 2020 he directed “Träum weiter” by Nesrin Samdereli at Ernst Deutsch Theater Hamburg.
His production Lederfresse was awarded first prize at “Theatrend”. Because of his activities within the framework of the “Welt-Theater” and cross-border artistic activities, he was awarded the Oberhausen Theatre Prize and the Prize of the Foundation for Art and Culture of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Kultursekretariat NRW at the “Theaterzwang” festival in 1998. In 2015, his current play “Ich werde nicht hassen” was awarded the Monika Bleibtreu Prize in the category “Contemporary Drama” at the 4th Privattheatertage Hamburg, the Student Jury Prize at the 9th International Theatre Festival in Nuremberg in autumn 2017, and the Audience Prize at the 20th Heidelberger Theatertage .