Born 1968 in Ludwigsburg Germany, Sudabeh grew up in Tehran and Vienna. She received her MA in theater and film studies from the University of Vienna in 1994. She worked as a programmer for film festivals. She curated and organized a number of film events and was the manager and programmer of Filmcasino, an independent arthouse theater in Vienna. After completing UCLA's certificate program in Film, TV, and Digital Entertainment Media in 2002, Sudabeh worked as an assistant director and production manager on The Writing Code, a documentary series for PBS filmed all over the US and in Egypt, Iran, and the UK. She directed and produced several short films before making her feature-length documentary Children of the Prophet.