Biography

Mozhdah Jamalzadah (Dari/Pashto: مژده جمالزاده) (born December 27, 1982 in Kabul, Afghanistan) is an Afghan singer, actress, and talk show host. Referred to as 'The Oprah of Afghanistan', Jamalzadah hosts The Mozhdah Show, which often touches on issues such as women's rights.

During the civil war in Afghanistan, at the age of five, Jamalzadah and her family fled the country to neighbouring Pakistan. Later the family would then move and settle in Canada.

Jamalzadah was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she went on to study broadcast journalism at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and Philosophy and Political Science at the University of British Columbia.

Jamalzadah began writing songs in the early 2000s, the most prominent of these, Dokhtare Afghan (Afghan Girl), became instantly popular on Afghan TV stations and airwaves. The song called attention to past stories of strong Afghan heroines got many young Afghan men and women. The song earned Jamalzadah nominations and awards at the Afghan and International TV and radio stations. As a result, in December 2009, she was offered a position to work with an up-and-coming television station in Afghanistan, 1TV.

Mozhdah never calls herself the “Oprah of Afghanistan”. That’s just the name her adoring global audience—which includes individuals like Barack and Michelle Obama as well as Ms. Winfrey herself—has given her. That’s because, like Oprah, this Kabul-born, Vancouver-based icon has sparked conversations and inspired women all over the world as a bold, big-hearted example of female leadership.

Through her internationally renowned music career and groundbreaking television show The Mozhdah Show, Mozhdah has inspired profound respect and serious controversy in equal measure. She’s the first Afghani artist to produce hit records in English, capturing a global audience and performing on international stages.

She’s the first Afghani woman to brave death threats in order to host her own talk show and cover sensitive subjects impacting Afghani women and children. She’s the first Afghani female artist to perform in the White House, or appear on The Oprah Winfrey Show, or express her mission of empowerment on CNN.

Other pop artists and media figures may be known as daring, even groundbreaking, but Mozhdah’s courage is on another level. A singular voice in music and media, she’s risked everything in order to express herself—along with the deepest hopes of women across the planet.