Faran Tahir

Faran Tahir
Tahir in May 2008
Born	Faran Haroon Tahir (1963-02-16) February 16, 1963 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994–present

Faran Tahir (born February 16, 1964) is a Pakistani-American film and television actor. Tahir is best known for his role as Raza, the leader of the terrorist organization "The Ten Rings" in Iron Man.

Early life

Tahir was born into an acting Muslim family in Los Angeles, California, where his Pakistani parents had been studying acting and directing at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His father Naeem Tahir is a scholar, researcher, public speaker, columnist, teacher, trainer and dramatist, younger brother Ali & Ali's wife Wajeeah Tahir are also famous PTV personalities. Tahir's father has also acted in the famous Shoaib Mansoor film Khuda Kay Liye along with notable Indian star Naseeruddin Shah.

Growing up in Pakistan, Tahir returned to Los Angeles in 1980.

Career

In 1985, he appeared as Bolshintsov in U.C. Berkeley's production of A Month in the Country. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a BA in Theatre before acquiring a graduate degree from the American Repertory Theater's (A.R.T.) Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

He made his film debut playing Nathoo in the Disney's 1994 live-action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. He has since appeared in such films as Picture Perfect (1997), Anywhere But Here (1999) and Charlie Wilson's War (2007). He also played the male lead in the 1999 independent film ABCD. In 2008, Tahir played the role of the villain Raza in the Marvel Comics-based Iron Man. He played Starfleet Captain Richard Robau in the 2009 film Star Trek. In 2013, Tahir played President Patel in the science-fiction film Elysium.

Tahir has guest starred on many television series, including Alias, The Practice, Family Law, The Agency, NYPD Blue, Lost, 7th Heaven, The West Wing, Walker, Texas Ranger, The D.A., 24, Monk, Justice, Cold Case, Chuck and Warehouse 13. He also co-starred with Robert Beltran and Chase Masterson in the 2005 Sci-Fi Channel original movie Manticore. He also starred in the medical drama series Grey's Anatomy as Isaac and appeared on the CW series Supernatural as the Egyptian god Osiris in the seventh season's episode "Defending Your Life". Tahir starred in the ghost horror film Jinn. His most recent TV role was that of Frank, Cliff Barnes' right-hand man in the reboot of Dallas .

He appeared in JAG in the episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" which served as the two pilot episodes for the series NCIS. Seven years later, Tahir appeared in the spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles.

Personal life

Tahir has two brothers (born 1969 & 1974). His father is Naeem Tahir, Director General at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Jungle Book	Nathoo
1997	Picture Perfect	Sajit
1998	A Price Above Rubies	Hrundi Kapoor
	Anywhere But Here	Hisham Badir
	ABCD	Raj
	A Town Without Pity	Antoine Fahd	TV movie
2005	Manticore	Umari	TV movie
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Brigadier Rashid
2008	Iron Man	Raza
2009	Star Trek	Captain Robau
2010	Ashes	Kartik
2013	Elysium	President Patel
	Torn	Ali Munsif
	Escape Plan	Javed
	Mr. Jones	The Anthropologist
2014	Jinn	Ali

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Midnight Caller	Desk Clerk	Blood Red
1993	Law & Order	Mr. Khan	Profile
1994	New York Undercover	Dr. Venegas	Missing
1995	New York News	Neilson	Past Imperfect
1997	Party of Five	Radiologist	2 episodes
1999	The Pretender	Anesthesiologist	At the Hour of Our Death
2000	The Practice	Dr. Michael Shields	Death Penalties
	FreakyLinks	Doctor	Subject: Three Thirteen
	Family Law	Dr. Singh	2 episodes
2001	Alias	Mokhtar	A Broken Heart
	NYPD Blue	Isa Al-Ramai	Baby Love
	The Agency		Closure
2002	7th Heaven	Mr. Halawi	Suspicion
	MDs	Dr. Banfa	Cruel and Unusual
	The West Wing	Manny	"Swiss Diplomacy"
2003	The Agency	Jamar Akil	An Isolated Incident
	The West Wing	Manny	"Inauguration: Part 1"
	JAG	Amad Bin Atwa / Said Labdouni	3 episodes
	Boston Public	Mr. Mubarik	Chapter Seventy-Four
	24	Mosque Greeter	"Day 2: 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m."
2004	Judging Amy	Dr. Omidi	The Quick and The Dead
	The D.A.	Asaf Shah	The People vs. Achmed Abbas
2005	24	Tomas Sherek	2 episodes
	Over There	Hamza	Embedded
	Just Legal		"Pilot"
2006	Charmed	Savard	Repo Manor
	Monk	Museum Official	"Mr. Monk and the Big Reward"
	Justice	Oscar Rivera	Behind the Orange Curtain
	Sleeper Cell	Aziz	Faith
2007	Cold Case	Anil Patel	A Dollar, A Dream
2008	Lost	Ishmael Bakir	"The Shape of Things to Come"
	Chuck	Farrokh Bulsara	Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer
2009	Grey's Anatomy	Isaac	"Give Peace a Chance"
2010	NCIS: Los Angeles	Hassad Al-Jahiri	Fame
	Childrens Hospital	Malik	The Sultan's Finger: Live
2011	Blue Bloods	El Haq	Hall of Mirrors
	In Plain Sight	Ali Tavali	A Womb with a View
	Warehouse 13	Adwin Kosan	6 episodes
	Supernatural	Osiris	Defending Your Life
2012	Burn Notice	Ahmad Damour
	Dallas	'Smiling' Frank
2013	Private Practice	Charles	Full Release
2014	Elementary	Agent Mattoo	"The Diabolical Kind"
	Criminal Minds	Tivon Askari	"200"
2015	Criminal Minds	Tivon Askari	"The Forever People"
	The Blacklist	Ruslan Denisov	"Ruslan Denisov (No. 67)"
	Supergirl	The Commander	Recurring
	How to Get Away with Murder	Detective	Guest Star, Episode 10: "Hello Raskolnikov"
	Satisfaction	Omar Sandhal	recurring role in season 2

External links

• Faran Tahir at the Internet Movie Database
• Faran Tahir at AllMovie

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