Don't be surprised if Shoreh Aghdashloo's name is called early and often this upcoming awards season and if it isn't, it will be a complete travesty.

That's because Aghdashloo gives one the most stunning portrayals of the year as Zahra in "The Stoning of Soraya M.," inspired by the horrifying true story that took place in 1986 in an Iranian village. The film tells the tale of how Zahra defied local authorities and mob rule by telling a French-Iranian journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam (Jim Caviezel), how her niece (Mozhan Marno) was brutally stoned to death after her husband (Navid Negahban) led villagers to believe that she was unfaithful.

A recent Emmy winner for "The House of Saddam" and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for 2003's "The House of Sand and Fog," the Iranian-born actress said in a recent @ The Movies interview that the awards recognition isn't about personal achievement. Instead, it's all about the opportunity to raise awareness of stonings and the injustices against women that still go on across the globe to this day.

"The core of the idea here was to bring out this film and let the whole world see as Zahra sees it," Aghdashloo explained. "She wanted the reporter to take her voice outside of the village and let the whole world know -- the more we're able to shed light on it, the more people will get familiar with the subject matter. We want to show this film to as many people as we can."

For Aghdashloo, 57, the yearning to tell about the brutality of stonings was a long time coming, even even Sahebjam's book, "The Stoning of Soraya M.: A True Story," was published in 1994. The problem was that no filmmaker had looked into tackling the difficult subject matter and raising money to do it until director Cyrus Nowrasteh came along.

"When I read the script I called Cyrus and asked him, 'Where have you been for the last 20 years?' I was hoping someone somewhere would shed light on this brutal form of punishment," Aghdashloo recalled.

Aghdashloo, who left Iran just as the turmoil started to break out before the Iranian Revolution 30 years ago, said the stoning scene was without question the most difficult part of filming. She knew that ultimately, she was making a film, but a project never felt as real to her as it did the first time she saw the hole where Marno's character was to be buried up to her waist.

"The very first time that we went to site, I tried to ignore it while they were digging the hole. I would pass by the area but would not look at it because it was going to stir my emotions and I didn't need it," Aghdashloo recalled. "The first time I looked at it, I cannot even describe how I felt. I felt like vomiting. I couldn't actually believe that people could actually put human beings in it. I had thought about it in the last 20 years, but I had never felt it so close. I cried the whole six days we shot the scene. It was a very unbearable scene to deal with, but I'm glad we did it."

Aghdashloo said that Nowrasteh never had to ask her to cry because her tears were real. And while many of her tears were those of sadness, Aghdashloo added that some were tears of relief.

"I was crying for all those unnamed souls of the women stoned to death," Aghdashloo said. "But they were with us, and were cheering and were happy, watching the film being made, knowing soon that the rest of the world would know about it."