The Fun Zone
Newport Coast actress Nazanin Boniadi finds the feminine side of fall fashion on one of Orange County’s favorite playgrounds, the Balboa Fun Zone.
By Rose Flores Medlock, photographed by Kristi Klemens
Sandal Dries Van Noten’s jeweled, strappy work of art, $1,225
Dress mustard-yellow, one-shoulder Grecian design, $1,857
Bracelet copper bead necklace worn at the wrist, $852, both Lanvin
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A day before her close-up, draped in a knee-length black-and-white dress and skin-tone bootie pumps, “General Hospital” actress Nazanin Boniadi navigated to a Newport Beach cafe table and spent the next hour chatting—in a refined British accent—about fashion, her family’s flight from Iran, and the kismet that steered her away from medicine and into a career in the arts.
I’ve never been one to conform to the status quo of fashion. I think it’s far more exciting to find your own sense of style and have fun in the process. It’s important to be daring and take risks, albeit classy and calculated risks. After all, that’s how some people become trend-setters, rather than followers.
I wanted to do something altruistic. My parents wanted me to get a degree in something big, like medicine, to make a difference. But we had major differences in the arts. When I graduated with honors [from the University of California, Irvine], I called my dad in London and told him that my heart and my soul were in performing and acting and storytelling. He said: “You’re giving up a very safe and stable lifestyle to do something in your mid-20s that, frankly, a lot of people have failed at.” But I didn’t want to regret my life when I looked back in 20 year’s time.