[3] The Assyrian Malek family claims to trace its roots back eleven centuries.
[4][5] During the Assyrian genocide of 1914–1918, Malek-Yonan's family fled to Baghdad, in the Great Exodus from Urmia where he was born on 11 October 1924.
His younger brother, Cyrus, left Iran for England when he was only seventeen to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and eventually settled in Paris.
He practiced international law for more than fifty years representing many of the American, European and Asian corporations in Iran.
Isaac Malek-Yoninan author of several books and essays including The Beloved Physician of Teheran (1933) and Persian Women (1898); Norman Malek-Yonan author of The Christmas Story (1958); Terrence Malick,[citation needed] Oscar-nominated director and writer of The New World (2005), The Thin Red Line (1998), Days of Heaven (1978), Badlands (1973).
Three gold medals presented at Mar-Mar Palace in Tehran by the former Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, earned George Malek-Yonan the title of Champion of Champions[13][14][15] in Iranian Sports in the fields of track and field, pentathlon and soccer, bringing the total of medals awarded to him to 47.