Leila Bela

Bela was born Leila Bela Kousheshi, in Tehran, Iran, to a family of Persian female singers and musicians such as her great-aunt Monir Vakili as well as former Persian royalty, descendants of the Qajar Empire but was not raised by them. Her mother abandoned her at age four and she lived in several foster homes and with family and strangers all over the world growing up. In her early teens she was very active in the punk and underground music scene. She began attending Nightclubs and gay bars such as Numbers and Rich's in Houston, Tx. In her late teens she began writing freelance articles about underground music for various local papers. Her first major job was an interview with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. She had been told by the paper only to cover the show, but when Reznor saw her, he introduced himself and offered her an interview, allowing her to use his recording device to record it. She accepted, and he later invited her to the opening of the very first Lollapalooza as his guest and a reporter. After dealing with issues of misogyny in the newspaper industry she started her own one-woman music magazine in 1998 called NYXLair while attending college at the University of Houston. There she double majored in theatre and physics and minored in literature, as well as taking independent studies in photography and playwriting. She was one of five students, chosen out of thousands who had submitted original plays, to study with award-winning playwright Edward Albee, known for his dark themes. Her Shakespeare audition in her second year at university also landed her in a class taught by master Shakespearean director Sir Peter Hall, who chose four people for the semester class in Houston. She performed such roles as Natalia in Three Sisters in 2001, Lady Nijo in Top Girls in 2002, Regan in King Lear, Phoebe in As You Like It, and Antigone in Antigone. == Career ==