Pej Vahdat

Pej Vahdat
Pej Vahdat
Born	Pejman Vahdat; April 10, 1982 (age 42); Tehran, Iran
Education	San Diego State University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present

Pejman "Pej" Vahdat (/ˈpɛdʒ vəˈdɑːt/ PEJ və-DAHT)^[1] is an Iranian-American actor known for his role of Arastoo Vaziri in Bones from 2009 to 2017.

Career

Before his acting career he attended San Diego State University, where he was a member of the San Diego State Aztecs men's tennis team.^[2] He also played Kash during the first season of the Showtime series Shameless.

In 2018, he appeared in the Farmers Insurance Group commercial "Parking Splat."^{[citation needed]}

In 2022, Vahdat was cast as Dex Dexter for the fifth season of the CW reboot series Dynasty.

Since 2022 Vahdat has appeared as the young 'Faraz Hamzad', a family man turned Afghan war lord played by Navid Negahban, in the FX series The Old Man.^[3]

Personal Life

Vahdat was born in Tehran during the Iranian revolution to Nina Emami and Dr. Amoo, one of the Shah of Iran's physiciens,^[4] who he often refers to as "the greatest man he has ever known" they lived in Germany for a 8 months before moving to California.^[5]^[4] Vahdat has a sister, Parastoo Emami, a parenting coach known for her work with highly sensitive children and her Instagram account 'Parenting Advice' and a brother, Paiman. He has been married to Narsis Attar for over 21 years,^[6] she is a medical doctor and Heme-Onc fellow at Dana Farber and MGH Cancer Center.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	The Butcher	Chip
2008	A Separate Tribe	Stranger	Short film
2008	Juan Frances: Live	Amir
2010	Groupie	Clerk
2013	Blood Shot	Ruhmeo
2014	A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night	DJ Porno
2018	Hope Springs Eternal	Mr Garner
2019	The Day Shall Come	Nura

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2004	Finding the Endzone	Bobby	TV short
2005	The Flight That Fought Back	Ziad Jarrah	TV movie	^[7]
2005	Sleeper Cell	David	Episode: "Al-Faitha"
2005–2009	General Hospital	Kia / Dr. Dylan Litz	2 episodes
2006	Arrested Development	Iraqi Guard	Episode: "Exit Strategy"
2006	Windfall	Cop / Tony Larma	Episode: "Priceless"
2006	NCIS	Dead Motorcyclist Balash Sassnio	Episode: "Shalom"
2006	Everybody Hates Chris	Dr. with Leg	Episode: "Everybody Hates Kris"
2006–2007	Mind of Mencia	Henchman / Ravi	3 episodes
2007	House	Hamid	Episode: "Airborne"
2008	Valentine	Sameer Patel	Episode: "Daddy's Home"
2008	The Unit	Zafar Khalid	Episode: "Inquisition"
2008	Caught in the Action	Ahmad	TV film
2009	Lie to Me	Jason Kashani	Episode: "Life Is Priceless"
2009–2017	Bones	Arastoo Vaziri	Recurring role, 31 episodes	^[8]
2010	Hawthorne	Salim Amara	Episode: "Final Curtain"
2011	NCIS: Los Angeles	Rameesh Nayam-Singh	Episode: "Tin Soldiers"
2011	Grey's Anatomy	Tarik Amin	Episode: "This Is How We Do It"
2011–2012	Shameless	Kash	8 episodes	^[9]
2012	Harry's Law	Alden Mills	Episode: "And the Band Played On"
2012	Single Ladies	Kaseem	Episode: "Finally"
2013	Hot in Cleveland	Ravi	Episode: "Cleveland Indians"
2014	The Mysteries of Laura	Kasib Al Wazir	Episode: "The Mystery of the Dysfunctional Dynasty"
2014	Dallas	Nasir Ali	3 episodes
2015	Perception	Vice Consul Rashid Prasad	Episode: "Mirror"
2016	Sneaky Pete	Raj Kumar Mukherjee	5 episodes	^[10]
2017	Lucifer	Josh Hamid	Episode: "They're Back, Aren't They?"
2017	The Good Doctor	Dr. Avi Mehta	Episode: "Intangibles"
2017–2018	Arrow	Sam Armand	4 episodes
2018–2020	Empire	Kelly Patel	13 episodes	^[11]
2018	NCIS	Nigel Hakim	2 episodes
2018	Elementary	Tim Darsha	Episode: “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”
2022	Dynasty	Dex Dexter	Recurring role	^[12]
2022	City on a Hill	Agent Ramin Milani	6 episodes
2022–present	The Old Man	Young Faraz Hamzad	Recurring role

Video Games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2023	Dead Space Remake	Dr. Terrence Kyne	Facial, motion capture & voice acting

References

^ "EP 42: Pej Vahdat AKA "How to Pretend to be your Own Agent"". Let's Talk About Me, Baby with Utkarsh Ambudkar. January 11, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
^ "Disgraced". Philadelphia Theatre Company. Retrieved 2022-06-23.
^ "Navid Negahban as Faraz Hamzad | The Old Man on FX". FX. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
^ ^a ^b BERNSTEIN, ABBIE (2013-02-06). "Exclusive Interview: BONES' Pej Vahdat talks season 8 – Part 1 - Assignment X". Retrieved 2025-01-16.
^ "EL SÚPERSTAR: THE UNLIKELY RISE OF JUAN FRANCÉS". www.cinemalibrestudio.com. Retrieved 2025-01-16.
^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
^ "The Flight That Fought Back". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
^ Lange, Ariane (February 22, 2017). "What It's Like To Play A Muslim On Network TV". BuzzFeed. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
^ Lang, Brent (April 10, 2021). "Shameless Finale: 11 Essential Episodes as the Gallaghers Bid Farewell". Variety. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
^ Petski, Denise (August 2, 2016). "Sneaky Pete Casts Karolina Wydra & Pej Vahdat in Recurring Roles". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 14, 2022.
^ "Who Is Empire Owner Millionaire Kelly Patel on Empire?"
^ Petski, Denise (January 28, 2022). "SNL's Alex Moffat Joins Apple's Bad Monkey, CW's Dynasty Casts Pej Vahdat". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

External links

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[1] "EP 42: Pej Vahdat AKA "How to Pretend to be your Own Agent"". Let's Talk About Me, Baby with Utkarsh Ambudkar. January 11, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2018.

[2] "Disgraced". Philadelphia Theatre Company. Retrieved 2022-06-23.

[3] "Navid Negahban as Faraz Hamzad | The Old Man on FX". FX. Retrieved 2024-10-06.

[:0-4] BERNSTEIN, ABBIE (2013-02-06). "Exclusive Interview: BONES' Pej Vahdat talks season 8 – Part 1 - Assignment X". Retrieved 2025-01-16.

[5] "EL SÚPERSTAR: THE UNLIKELY RISE OF JUAN FRANCÉS". www.cinemalibrestudio.com. Retrieved 2025-01-16.

[6] "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2024-10-06.

[7] "The Flight That Fought Back". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 25, 2023.

[8] Lange, Ariane (February 22, 2017). "What It's Like To Play A Muslim On Network TV". BuzzFeed. Retrieved March 14, 2022.

[9] Lang, Brent (April 10, 2021). "Shameless Finale: 11 Essential Episodes as the Gallaghers Bid Farewell". Variety. Retrieved March 14, 2022.

[10] Petski, Denise (August 2, 2016). "Sneaky Pete Casts Karolina Wydra & Pej Vahdat in Recurring Roles". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 14, 2022.

[11] "Who Is Empire Owner Millionaire Kelly Patel on Empire?"

[12] Petski, Denise (January 28, 2022). "SNL's Alex Moffat Joins Apple's Bad Monkey, CW's Dynasty Casts Pej Vahdat". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 30, 2022.

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