He and Anousheh Ansari represented Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi at the 89th Academy Awards on for its winning in the Best Foreign Language Film category . Because of Farhadi 's absence due to president Trump 's 2017 immigration ban over seven Muslim countries including Iran ; Farhadi selected Naderi and Ansari as his representatives at the Oscars , given that both of them are successful Iranian-Americans who immigrated to the US . On February 26 , 2017 , they accepted the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for '' The Salesman '' on Farhadi 's behalf . In the press briefing after the award when asked why he and Anousheh were chosen by the filmmaker to accept the award , he replied that it likely was because both Anousheh and he have a space perspective of Earth , " As you pull away from the Earth and look back at it all you see is a beautiful blue planet without any lines , borders or -- walls . Home to all of us . "
89th Academy Awards
89th Academy Awards
Firouz Naderi