Cyrus Afsary was born and raised in the Middle East, and began his art instruction when he enrolled in an art conservatory at the age 15. He studied art in college, where he received classical instruction and painted primarily in oils. Afsary was also earning money with his paintings, having begun to sell portrait commissions while still in his teens. Afsary had the opportunity to pursue an art career after moving to the US in his early thirties.
Although his specialty is portraits, Afsary's subjects have varied from landscapes to still lifes. He enjoys working in oil, and sometimes also works with watercolors and pastels. Afsary relies on his strong technical skills when identifying and placing the colors and values in each piece, but he adds something more tangible with each brush stroke. His work began to be noticed in the early Eighties, when his incredible style attracted the attention of Western art aficionados. Afsary's paintings have won many awards, including the first Robert Lougheed Memorial at the 1988 National Academy of Western Art Exhibition.