Reza Arham Sadr (May 3, 1923 - December 14, 2008) was the founder of the school of critical comedy in Iranian theater, which later became known as the "Isfahan Theater School".

He started his artistic career in 1947 by acting in the theater. He was the founder of "Arham Sadr Art Group" in 1964. He was known as "the funniest artist of Isfahan".

The Darsa video film made by Mohsen Damaadi in 2005 was his last appearance in front of the camera. 176 shows were the result of 50 years of his artistic activity.

Arham Sadr was born on May 12, 1923 in Paghalleh neighborhood of Isfahan. He completed his primary education in Isfahan and then entered the English College of this city. This college later became Adab High School.

After finishing his technical education, he went to Khuzestan and after learning technical skills, he started working there. At that time, while he was preparing to continue his studies in England, due to chronic malaria, he stopped working in Khuzestan and returned to Isfahan and received a business diploma from Adab High School and a literary diploma from Saramieh High School.

In 1947, he was employed by Iran Insurance company and at the same time he had an active role in repairing the Abbasi Caravanserai. At the same time, he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and educational affairs from the Faculty of Literature of Isfahan University.

He went on stage for the first time in high school. In the annual celebration of Adab High School, three nights of shows were usually performed for teachers, parents, and elders of the city, but during Arham Sadr's presence, tickets were sold for seven nights due to the popularity of that show, which was called "Rafiq Najnes" (Naughty Friend).

In 1948, Nasser Farahmand established the first professional theater in Isfahan and invited Arham Sadr to collaborate. This theater was located at the Darvazeh Dolat of Isfahan, a building that has now become the municipality. His whole effort was to get the comedy show out of pure humoristic sense and turn it to an activity aiming for criticizing political and social issues as well.

After some time, "Sepahan Theater Group" was formed with the investment of Ali Sadri (Arham Sadr's cousin), but after a while, Nasser Farahmand and a group of actors separated from this group and formed the Isfahan Theater Group. Arham Sadr stayed with Nosratollah Vahdat in "Sepahan Theater Group" and with the addition of female actors to this group, the group's activity reached a new peak.

After some time, Arham Sadr left this group and Sepahan theater managers tried to replace him with Homayoun and Jahangir Forouhar. After some time, he founded Arham Theater Group in "Cinema Pars" (formerly Moulin Rouge) located in Jolfa neighborhood of Isfahan. He then founded Arham Art Group with Mehdi Mamizan, Reza Khandan, Ali Mohammad Rajaei and the girls (Zhaleh, Forough and Sarvar), Clara Stepanians (Dakhani), Mansour Jahanshah, Pari Karbalai, Hoshang Basiri, Iraj Salehi, Saeed Mohaghegh. This group continued to work with the same people to the end and staged some of the most comedy shows, including Divaneh, Man Mikhaam, Vaadang, Rosvaha, etc.

Arham Sadr's first appearance in the cinema was with 'A Night in Hell' in 1957. On the day when Mehdi Missaghieh came to Isfahan to watch the Vaadang show, he took a copy of the script from Arham Sadr, which later became the movie A Party in Hell. Arham Sadr was originally supposed to appear in the role of Haj Jabbar in this film, but due to the weakness of make-up at that time, he took the role of Haj Jabbar's servant. Arham Sadr acted in a total of seventeen movies and three TV series.

The construction of Abbasi Hotel by Iran Insurance Company was completed when Arham Sadr was the managing director of the company in Isfahan province. As Arham Sadr himself says about this:

"I was the director of Iran Insurance Company at that time. The capital needed for the construction of this hotel was from a profit that was collected in Iran Insurance company after some time and was supposed to be transferred to the central part of the country, but I believed that this money belonged to the people of Isfahan and should be spent on the city itself."

After the Islamic Revolution, the theater in Isfahan was closed, and after the revival of the theater activities, Arham Sadr was banned from acting until the end of his life, and only at the end of his life was he invited to participate in the Koocheye Aghaghia series, which he declined due to his illness. Arham Sadr lived in Isfahan until the end of his life.

He says that one day the government officials wanted to force him to work as an artist in Tehran (through the transfer of service in Iran Insurance company), to which I said:

"Whenever you were able to cut Isfahan's Jonban minaret from floor to floor and install it in Tehran's Lalehzar Square, then the speaker next to him will announce that Arham Theater will be held here today at noon."

Filmography

Movie

 1992 Nesf-e Jahan
 1991 Afsane-ye shahr-e lajevardi
 1985 Jafar Khan az farang bargashte
 1978 Majaraha-ye Alaeddin va cheragh-e jadoo
 1974 Akbar Dilmaj
 1974 Hezar o yek shab (TV Mini Series)
 1974 Jooje fokoli
 1973 Ki daste gol be ab dade?
 1973 Parizad
 1972 Laj o lajbazi
 1972 Mosta'jer
 1972 Yek Esfahani dar New York
 1971 Mardane khashen
 1971 Shohar-e pastorize
 1968 Jade zarine Samarghand
 1966 Damad Fararri
 1965 Zan va arousakhayash
 1963 Setarei cheshmak zad
 1961 Ali vaksi
 1956 A Party in Hell | Shab-neshini dar jahannam

Theater

     Khalifa for a day
     Naughty Friend
     Turkeys
     Which one of the two
     Clowns
     Khoruse Bimahal
     Man Mikham
     drunk
     Crazy
     A Night in Hell
     Caricature Department
     Wadang
     Ahmad Dallak