Seven Things You Didn't Know Nazanin Boniadi, The Woman Reportedly Recruited To Be Tom Cruise's Wife
Sept. 3 2012, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Nazanin Boniadi is now one of the most famous women in the world, thanks to an upcoming magazine article describing how she was recruited by Scientology officials to be Tom Cruise's wife in 2004 and allegedly punished by the organization after the Mission: Impossible star pulled the plug on their romance.
It was then, in early 2005, that Scientology launched a new search -- the one that resulted in Cruise's romance and subsequent marriage with Katie Holmes.
Naz, as her friends call her, is a good friend of acclaimed writer-director Paul Haggis, who on Monday confirmed the Vanity Fair magazine blockbuster. Cruise's rep dismissed it as a "lie."
Now RadarOnline.com is taking a look at the Iranian-born beauty who is at the center of one of the biggest scandals ever to erupt around Cruise.
Here are seven things you didn't know about her:
1) Born in Tehran, Iran on May 22, 1980, Naz moved to London with her parents as an infant.
- Nervy Nicole Kidman 'Finally Being Helped to Reunite with Adopted Kids' by Her Daughters and Husband
- Mission Impossible! Aging Tom Cruise 'Desperate for Eyebag Surgery' — As He 'Continues Fight to Tap Into Fountain of Eternal Youth'
- 'Isolated' and 'Desperate' Tom Cruise 'Being Snubbed by David and Victoria Beckham' as He 'Battles to Rebuild Friendships Back in America'
DAILY. BREAKING. CELEBRITY NEWS. ALL FREE.
2) Naz graduated with honors from the University of California, Irvine where she studied molecular research involving cancer and transplant treatments.
3) Turning to acting, Naz had a recurring role on General Hospital from 2007 to 2009.
4) Naz played Neil Patrick Harris' love interest, Nora, for two seasons on How I Met Your Mother.
5) Fellow former-Scientologist Paul Haggis cast her in The Next Three Days, his 2010 Russell Crowe thriller.
6) A dedicated human rights activist, Naz is a spokeswoman for Amnesty International
7) Boniadi received the Social Cinema Award at the Ischia Global Film & Music Festival in 2011, honoring her for her human rights work.
RELATED STORIES:
Holmes & Cruise Divorce: Katie Dumped Tom, Wanted To Step Out of His Shadow