Babak Karimi was born in 1960 to Iranian parents. Her father, Nosrat Karimi, is an actor, director and playwright, and her mother, Alam Danai, is a theatre actress and director. He made his film debut at the age of ten in the first Iranian neo-realistic film, Doroshkechi, directed and performed by his father. Afterwards, it appears in several advertisements. In 1971, he left for Italy where he learned the profession of camera operator at the Istituto di Stato per la Cinematografia e la Televisione R. Rossellini. Since then he has been living in that country.