Born on the fourth of July in Tehran, Iran, Rosie Malek-Yonan is a descendant of one of the oldest and most prominent Assyrian families, tracing her Assyrian roots back nearly eleven centuries as evidenced by the Malek Family Tree. The Malek family or tribe came from the Assyrian village of Geogtapah, Urmi, a region in northwestern, Iran.

During the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918, Rosie's grandparents left their ancestral homeland in Urmi, Iran, during the Great Exodus from Urmi. The Malek-Yonan family fled to Mesopotamia where her father was born, while Rosie's maternal grandmother fled to Russia where her mother was born. Years later, both families returned to Tehran where her parents met and were married. Rosie has a younger sister, Monica who works very closely with her on most of her projects.

Living as a minority Christian Assyrian in Iran, the Malek-Yonan family always used its influence and the Malek title to further the interests and welfare of its Assyrian people. The Malek-Yonan family has produced many great sons and daughters.

Notables like Dr. Jesse Malek-Yonan, who was affectionately known to all as Dr. Jesse, left Urmia for America to study medicine. After earning his medical degree, he returned to Urmia where he knew he was needed most among his Assyrian people. After the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918, Dr. Jesse represented the Assyrians of Iran at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

A Renaissance man, entrepreneur, art collector, inventor and a true Assyrian, Milton Malek-Yonan, known simply as Malek, received his doctorate in divinity in Edinburgh, Scotland. Urmia-born, Malek grew up in America but never abandoned his Assyrian roots. Instead, he actively sought out non-Assyrians to educate and enlighten them about his Assyrian heritage. Milton Malek-Yonan invented the widely used process called “rice conversion” or Malekized Rice. It was a revolution in the treatment of rice. During the war, General Douglas MacArthur himself ordered that all the rice shipped to the Pacific should be Malekized. When the patent ran out, Milton’s invention simply became known as products like “Uncle Ben’s Rice”, though in countries such as Brazil and India the name Malekized Rice lives on.

Rev. Isaac Malek-Yonan author of several books and essays including The Beloved Physician of Teheran (1933) and Persian Women (1898). Rev. Isaac’s wartime diaries and journals are an indispensable source of information and inspiration, giving an insight to the daily struggles of the Assyrian refugees during the Assyrian Massacres of 1914-1918. Rosie is proud to have been entrusted with the collection.

David Aghabeg Malek-Yonan was a graduate of the Class of 1900 at Davidson College in South Carolina. On July 12, 1900, he attended a Presbyterian Church picnic before returning to Urmi. While swimming in the Catawba River near Davidson, he and a friend who were both medical students died heroically trying to rescue a drowning student. A five-foot high white marble obelisk marks the site where Aghabeg David Malek-Yonan is buried at Davidson. A scholarship was created for members of the Malek-Yonan family to attend Davidson in honor of Aghabeg David Malek-Yonan. His tragic death was written about in a book entitled Campus Heroes.

Shushan Malek-Yonan author of a children's book (1927) published in Tabriz, Iran; Norman Malek-Yonan author of The Christmas Story (1958) and Terrence Malick, Oscar winning writer, director and producer of such films as Badlands, Days of Heaven, Red Thin Line, The New World and The Tree of Life.

In the 17th century, Geogtapah became the setting for the famous tragic love story of Aslee from the House of Malek and Karam, a commoner. The tale has been recounted in numerous Assyrian and Russian books. The Aslee and Karam Opera was composed in 1912 by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov. This tragic love story has been compared to that of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A beautiful stone well was erected in the village of Geogtapah in Aslee's memory after her heartrending and untimely death.

Rosie's father, George Malek-Yonan, a leading Assyrian international attorney, was personally responsible for procuring a seat for the Assyrians as a recognized minority in the Iranian Parliament, thus giving them a political voice. This was a remarkable achievement, to say the least, considering that Assyrians have been a people without a formal country to their name since the fall of the Assyrian Empire.

Rosie's mother, Lida Malek-Yonan, was equally influential in demanding recognition for Assyrian women in Iran by launching and presiding over the Assyrian Women Organization, which was the only officially recognized charter member of the Iranian Women Association up until the end of the Pahlavi Dynasty.

Rosie is the author of The Crimson Field, an historical and literary epic novel, based on real events and true family chronicles set to the backdrop of the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918 in the shadows of World War I where 750,000 Assyrians were massacred by the Ottoman Turks, Kurds and Persians. When her book was brought to the attention of Congress at the suggestion of director Terrence Malick, on 30 June 2006, Rosie was invited to testify on Capitol Hill before a Congressional Committee of the 109th Congress on religious freedom regarding the genocide, massacres and persecution of Assyrians in Iraq by Kurds and Islamists. She compared the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918, as depicted in The Crimson Field, to the current plight of the indigenous Assyrian Christians in Iraq. Her passionate testimony and plea to the U.S. government, ultimately prompted Congressman Christopher Smith to travel to war-torn Iraq to witness matters for himself. While in Iraq, after meeting with local Assyrians, he turned in Rosie's report to U.S. Officials in Iraq. One year later, a Congressional appropriations subcommittee unanimously voted to send $10 million to aid the Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

Monica Malek-Yonan's documentary film, My Assyrian Nation on the Edge, is based on Rosie's Congressional Testimony. It was released September 2006. Now in cooperation with Seyfo Center in Holland, an organization that deals with issues concerning the Assyrian Genocide, the documentary is being released in Europe in French, German, Swedish and Dutch. In 2006, Zinda Magazine selected The Crimson Field as The Assyrian Event of the Year 2005.

Various media sources including The Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the U.K. Iraqi Study have quoted and used Rosie's Congressional Testimony and her various published articles, speeches and interviews regarding the current state of affairs in Iraq concerning its Assyrian Christian indigenous people.

Rosie is an outspoken activist and advocate of issues concerning her nation, in particular bringing attention to the Assyrian Genocide as well as the plight of today's Assyrians in the Middle-East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and its Coalition Forces. She is frequently interviewed on television and radio programs worldwide giving her assessment of the current situation of the Assyrians in the Middle-East as well as discussing the topic of the Assyrian Genocide. Her articles are published globally and translated into many languages. She is also a public speaker and is often invited to lectures on the topic of the Assyrian Genocide. She has lectured at University of Berkeley, University of California at Merced and Woodbury University among others as well as at Schools, Churches and Civic Organizations around the globe. (To schedule an interview or to book Rosie for a speaking engagement please e-mail your request to: contact@thecrimsonfield.com.)

In 2006, at the 73rd Annual Assyrian Convention in Chicago, Illinois, the Board of Advisors of the Assyrian American National Federation, Inc., selected Rosie Malek-Yonan as Woman of the Year. In 2007 she joined the Board of Advisors at the Seyfo Center in Europe and represents the the United States Chapter. The center deals with issues concerning the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918. She is also the Patron of the Assyrian Levies Organization in Australia. For her numerous contributions as an actress, artist, director, author and activist, in March 2008, Rosie Malek-Yonan was awarded for Excellence in Arts and Entertainment by the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC).

In 2008, Rosie addressed the topic of genocide, world peace and in particular the Assyrian Genocide in statements invited to be presented at the House of Lords on 12 March and on 24 April at the House of Commons, London.

A natural-born artist, Rosie's artistic concentration has been in classical musical compositions, piano performance, acting, directing, producing, writing, documentary filmmaking, and figure skating. Rosie knows the unhurried craft all too well. She began composing classical music as early as her teens and continued her musical studies at Tehran Conservatory of Music. Upon receiving her LC degree in English from University of Cambridge, she moved to the United States where she continued her musical studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at San Francisco State University (SFSU) earning a BA and a BM in Music. Concurrently, Rosie studied Acting with Ray Reinhardt at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and at SFSU.

To music and acting Rosie also added another challenging dimension from the time she moved to the States: the sport of figure skating. Her sister, Monica, soon followed suit. When Queen Farah Pahlavi took notice of their passion and commitment to figure skating, she invited the sisters to represent Iran as the first female athletes in the sport. Their dedication, talent and hard work earned them both spots on the 1980 Olympic Team representing Iran, the first ever in the history of that country, and of the Assyrian history.

However, by 1979 the political climate in Iran drastically shifted when the Royal Family left the country. With their departure, the aspirations and dreams of ever skating in the Olympics at once became illusive for the Malek-Yonan sisters unless they were to comply with the restrictions that the new government was demanding to impose upon them. In order to continue to represent Iran, the Malek-Yonan sisters had to abide by the newly mandated dress code of skating in long gowns (the country's uniform for women), wear headscarves, become Moslem, and refrain from using music at the competition. Having composed the orchestral score for her short program for the Olympics, Rosie was devastated at a decision that seemed inevitable. Faced with a government's attempt to implement a series of ridiculous demands, Rosie and Monica walked away from the games prior to the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Rosie went on to compose many other classical orchestral pieces as well as continue to study acting. By the early 1980's, she won an invitation to study Drama at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA). Shortly thereafter, she began writing plays that were produced and performed on stage in the Los Angeles.

Rosie made her television debut on the series Dynasty while still a student at AADA, immediately followed by a national commercial for AT&T where she spoke in Assyrian (from the Aramaic), a language that years later director Mel Gibson would use in The Passion of the Christ. She has since appeared in numerous notable television shows, films and plays, acting in a wide range of roles opposite many of Hollywood's leading actors. Most recently, she played the role of ''Nuru Il-Ebrahimi,'' opposite Reese Witherspoon New Line Cinema's Rendition, directed by Oscar winning director Gavin Hood. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Rosie has just joined the cast of ABC's longest-running daytime drama series, General Hospital as ''Salma'' in a recurring role. Stay tuned for details and the air date!