Beejan Land

Beejan Land (Persian: بیجان لاند) is an Australian actor and producer born in 1985 in Paddington, New South Wales, Australia, of Iranian and Persian heritage. He made his Broadway debut in 2022 in The Kite Runner. Land trained extensively across multiple institutions, including the National Institute of Dramatic Art, where he completed programs in both acting and playwriting, Newtown High School of the Performing Arts, the Australian Theatre for Young People, ACTT's Talented Young Actors' Program, and L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

Land's earliest performing experience came not on stage but as a magician, working events and parties in Sydney before winning first place in the Walk on Walk off section of the Australian Convention of Magicians competition in 1998. The following year he began taking after-school classes at the Australian Theatre for Young People, studying film, theatre, and voice, and participating in productions there. Guest teachers during that period included Nick Enright, Victoria Longley, Kate Champion, and David Berthold.

In 2004, Land founded ROAR Theatre Company, an independent company aimed at bringing emerging artists together with established professionals to develop an Australian voice. Through a co-production with Darlinghurst Theatre, he produced and acted in Vicious Streaks by Alex Broun, with George Ogilvie, director of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and Lee Lewis co-directing. The production also featured Peter Mochrie and Jacinta John. That same year he co-starred in Summer Angst, a Tropfest short film directed by Elissa Down, who later directed The Black Balloon, and made a guest appearance on the Australian medical drama series All Saints.

The Melbourne Theatre Company invited Land to perform in their main-stage production of Alan Bennett's The History Boys, directed by Peter Evans, which played a sold-out season at The Arts Centre. The cast included Matthew Newton, Ashley Zukerman, and Ben Geurens. In 2005, Land toured to Northern Ireland to perform in Debra Oswald's Skate at the Belfast Festival at Queens. In 2008, he joined the cast of the Australian comedy series Very Small Business, playing Taxation Officer Lynton McGyver alongside Wayne Hope and Kym Gyngell.

Land's stage work spans plays by William Shakespeare, Michael Gow, David Hare, Bertolt Brecht, Debra Oswald, Ned Manning, Cyril Tourneur, Thomas Middleton, Alfred Jarry, Alex Broun, Mark Ravenhill, Tommy Murphy, Nazım Hikmet Ran, Frank Marcus, Alan Bennett, Tony Kushner, and José Rivera. Following encouragement from theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine, he undertook further studies at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq while simultaneously developing new work with the Théâtre du Soleil, a company he has continued to work with since.