Barbara Sarafian was born on april 16, 1968 in Ghent, Belgium. Her father was half Armenian and a painter. Her mother was a painter and teacher at the school of fine-arts in Ghent. She was raised bilingual French and Flemish/Dutch. She studied at the Academy of Dramatic Arts in Antwerp and at Paralax in Brussels.At first she was known as "Sonja Duplex" her alter-ego in the radio show "De Lieve Lust" on 'Studio Brussel'.Her first appearance in a feature film was in the short film "Pasta!" Very short after that she started an international career in "CQ" by Roman Coppola and "Fortress II" by Geoff Murphy. In 1999 she starred her first big role in Peter Greenaway's "8 ½ woman" as Clothilde.She takes a few years sabbatical to raise her son.In 2008, Sarafian starred in Christophe Van Rompaey's "Moscow Belgium" as a ...mother of 3, surviving the mid-life crisis of her husband an falling in love with Johnny, a much younger truck-driver. Her powerful performance in the...role won awards at numeric festivals. She gets two times awarded for best actress. In de USA newspapers write about "Barbara Sarafian in an Oscar-caliber performance".In the following years she plays persuasive roles in "De SM rechter", "Sint", "Zot van A" and "Marieke Marieke" wherefore she was nominated as best actress in a supporting role.In 2011 she starred in the role of Eva Forrestier in Michael Roskam's "Bullhead", next to Matthias Schoenaerts.Between 2012 en 2014 she's playing main- and supporting roles in "Allez Eddy", "Emmenez-moi", "Hemel", "Billy the bully" and "Brasserie Romantiek". For her role in "Brasserie Romantiek" she wins the Ensor for Best Supporting Actress.Most recently she has starred in Nic Balthazar's "Everybody Happy" as Laura Mares and as Marianne in Christophe Van Rompaey's "Vincent". For that last part she wins the Boccalino d'Oro 2016 award as best actress.Besides her work on the big screen she has a comprehensive palmares in television series and shows. She plays main roles in i.a. "Dubbelleven", "Vossenstreken" , "Clan (The Out-Laws)" en "In Vlaamse Velden". For her role in "in Vlaamse velden" she wins in 2015 a Tv-star for Best Actress. Her main parts as supporting actress were in "Zone Stad", "Kiekens", "Aspe" en "Professor T". She starred also in sketch and comedy shows as "achter de feiten", "Tegen de sterren op" en "Wat als?".Barbara Sarafian played some acclaimed parts in theatre. Her remarkable performances were in i.a. 'Uniroyal', 'Alles van Eva (All about Eve)' and 'Closer'. Sarafian will be playing in Gilles Coulier's "Cargo", ..."Wij", and tv-series "Beau Séjour", "De Infiltrant" en "De Dag" .