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Ramita Navai Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 1, 2026 • 6 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth21 July 1973

Age53 Years

BirthplaceTehran, Iran

ProfessionJournalist

NationalityBritish-Iranian

Marital statusUnmarried

FamilyFather: Kourosh Navai (deceased); Mother: Laya Navai; Brother: Ramin Navai (British Ambassador to Paraguay)

Ramita Navai Biography

British-Iranian investigative journalist, documentary-maker and author known for frontline reporting from hostile environments, award-winning documentaries

Early life and background

Ramita Navai was born on 21 July 1973 in Tehran, Iran. Her family left Iran after the revolution and she grew up in London. She holds British-Iranian nationality and later pursued a master’s degree in journalism at City, University of London.

Her father was Kourosh Navai and her mother is Laya Navai. Ramita has a brother, Ramin Navai, who has served as a British ambassador to Paraguay. She is unmarried.

Career

Ramita built a career as an investigative journalist and documentary maker, specialising in reporting from hostile and challenging environments. Early in her career she covered a devastating earthquake in Bam in southern Iran, an assignment she has described as formative and haunting because of the scale of death and the absence of rescue services she witnessed on arrival.

Her reporting work spans television and documentary formats. She has been associated with major outlets and programmes including Channel 4, PBS Frontline, and ITV’s Exposure. She has also been credited as creator and host at Aurra Studios, a London-based platform producing scripted and non-scripted podcasts.

Navai’s on-screen work includes documentaries that exposed human rights abuses, conflict and corruption. Some of her notable films investigated the Syrian conflict, refugee kidnappings, the battle against ISIS in Iraq, and alleged abuse by UN peacekeepers. She has reported undercover in dangerous settings and has spoken about the risks she and her teams faced while pursuing stories.

As an author, Navai wrote City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran, a non-fiction book that examines contemporary Tehran through reporting and personal insight. The book received recognition in the form of awards for a debut political title and for non-fiction.

Public profile

Navai’s work has been widely acknowledged within journalism circles. She has received multiple awards for television journalism and documentary reporting. Highlights include an Emmy recognition in 2012 for coverage of a breaking news story in a news magazine, the Foreign Press Association Award and a Royal Television Society award in 2015 for an investigation into gangs involved in the migrant crisis, and the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Television Journalism in 2017 for reporting from Iraq. She later won further awards for reporting on ISIS and for a documentary on UN sexual abuse allegations.

Alongside broadcast accolades, Navai’s book awards include the Debut Political Book of the Year and the Royal Society of Literature’s Jerwood Prize for non-fiction.

Navai has described her motivation for journalism as a drive to expose wrongdoing and corruption at high levels. She has spoken about volunteering early in her career at a foundation school in south Tehran for children denied formal education, and about how her reporting has at times led to personal restrictions and concern from her family.

Latest updates

In January 2022 Navai joined Aurra Studios in London. At Aurra she hosted a podcast titled The Line of Fire, which shared the life-and-death experiences of colleagues who have worked in dangerous reporting environments.

Physical profile

Ramita Navai is approximately 168 cm tall (about 5 feet 6 inches). She has brown eyes and medium brown hair.

Public remarks and personal perspective

Throughout interviews and public talks Navai has reflected on the emotional impact of covering large-scale human tragedy and the personal risks of undercover reporting. She has recounted family concerns about her safety following dangerous assignments and has expressed a continued commitment to uncovering injustice through investigative journalism.
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Recent Work

The Line of Fire (podcast)

Hosted a podcast at Aurra Studios exploring life-and-death experiences of journalists and colleagues.

2022
City of Lies: Love, Sex, Death, and the Search for Truth in Tehran

Non-fiction book exploring contemporary Tehran; won debut political book and non-fiction prizes.

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Career Highlights

  1. Associated with Channel 4, PBS Frontline and ITV Exposure
  2. Creator and host at Aurra Studios
  3. Winner of multiple journalism awards including Emmy recognition and two Robert F. Kennedy Awards
  4. Author of City of Lies, winner of Debut Political Book of the Year and the Royal Society of Literature’s Jerwood Prize for non-fiction
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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Ramita Navai born?

21 July 1973

What is Ramita Navai known for?

Journalist

What is Ramita Navai’s marital status?

Unmarried