Born in an Iranian middle class family, he grew up in Tehran and at the age of 14 he started acting in amateur theater groups. He then studied at the Institute of Dramatic Arts in Tehran.

“The government has a monopoly on film stock and equipment, so every filmmaker has to go to them to rent these items. The government issues screening permits for the films, which means they can ban a film or demand changes in it.

They also rate them on artistic and cultural merits. They reward A-grade films with rights to advertise on the government controlled media and screenings at the best theaters while C-grade filmmakers can be kept from making films for a year.”

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, his interest in cinema brought him to act in various films, most notably Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Boycott in 1985.

His debut as a director and screenwriter is marked by Baduk (1992), his first feature film that was presented at the Quinzaine of Cannes and won several awards nationwide.

As of 2004, Majidi was the only Iranian director who has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with the film Children of Heaven in 1998. He lost the award to the Italian film Life Is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni.

Majidi has directed three other feature films since Children of Heaven: The Color of Paradise (2000), Baran (2001) and The Willow Tree (2005; alternate English title One Life More). He also recently directed a feature-length documentary titled Barefoot to Herat, which chronicles life in refugee camps and the city of Herat during and after the anti-Taliban offensive of 2001. 

His acclaimed film The Song of Sparrows will be the opening film of the Visakhapatnam International Film Festival in India .

Majid Majidi was one of five international film directors invited by the Beijing government to create a documentary short film to introduce the city of Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, which was held in the Chinese capital; the project was titled “Vision Beijing”.

A sampling of Majid Majidi numerous awards:

- Oecumenical Special Award, 25th Montreal Film Festival, 2001
- Grand Prix Des Ameriques, 25th Montreal Film Festival, 2001
- Nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, 1998
- Grand Prix of Americas Best Film, 21st Montreal Festival for World Films, 1999