Cyrus Nowrasteh is a writer, producer, and director. Starting out as a television writer, Cyrus received the Pen USA West Literary Award for Best Teleplay twice, and is the only writer in the history of the Pen awards to win two years in a row in the same category. He wrote the pilot for the USA Network show “La Femme Nikita”, as well as numerous episodes of “Falcon Crest”. He also wrote and produced the Emmy award winning ABC miniseries “The Path to 9/11”, which starred Oscar winner Harvey Keitel. Cyrus’ film work has been equally illustrious. He wrote and directed “The Day Reagan was Shot”, which starred Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss and was executive produced by Oscar winner Oliver Stone. He then went on to co-write and direct the film “The Stoning of Soraya M.”, which starred Jim Caviezel and won runner-up for the Audience Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, amongst numerous other award wins. “The Stoning of Soraya M.” was condemned and banned by the Iranian government but thousands of copies were bootlegged into the country and it became an underground hit in Iran - forcing the government to put a temporary suspension on stoning as a punishment. Cyrus’ latest release “The Young Messiah”, which he directed and co-wrote, is based on an Anne Rice novel, and stars Sean Bean. It will be released in theaters nationwide on March 11.