Mohammad Ghaffari was born in Iran. In 1971 he joined Peter Brook's international research center as an actor. From 1974-1978 he produced, a wide range of traditional theater forms; which also included  the epic drama of Ta’ziyeh.. He later moved to New York where he continued to work at Ellen  Stewart's La Mama etc where he directed plays and performed at

Festivals in Europe. He was assistant to Jerzy Grotowski at Columbia University in 1983 where he taught acting from 1982-1992.. He directed the first international performance of Ta’ziyeh at the Festival d’Avignone in 1992 and later at the Festival d’Automne in 2000. In 2002 he directed three Ta’ziyeh plays for Lincoln Center Festival.