Biography for
Bahar Soomekh More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

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Bahar Soomekh was born on March 30th 1975 in Tehran, Iran, to a Persian Jewish family, and moved, at age 4, with her parents and sister, Saba Soomekh, to Los Angeles, United States in 1979, to escape the Iranian revolution. She attended a Yeshiva, Sinai Akiba Academy and Beverly Hills High School, where she played the violin in the school orchestra. She majored in environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Soomekh began working at a corporate job, and took acting classes at night, before quitting her job to pursue a full-time acting career.

Bahar began acting at age 27, guest starring in television shows like "Without a Trace" (2002), "24" (2001), "JAG" (1995), among others. She got her big break portraying an Iranian-American woman named Dorri, speaking fluent English and Farsi, in the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Crash (2004/I). The whole cast won the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. Bahar also appeared in the director's cut version of another Academy Award winning movie, Syriana (2005), playing Yassi. Bahar got some more attention playing Davian's Translator in Mission: Impossible III (2006). She had a leading role in the horror film Saw III (2006), playing a victim, Dr. Lynn Denlon. She had also portrayed Margo on the television series "Day Break" (2006). Recently, Soomekh got one of the lead roles as Hollis on the television Series "The Oaks" (2008), which will come out in the fall of 2008.

Spouse

Trivia

Graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1993, where she played violin in the school orchestra.

"Bahar" in Persian means; spring, a new life.

Graduated in environmental studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Was one of People magazine's 100 Most beautiful people in the world (2006)

Is of Persian Jewish descent and speaks fluent Persian (Farsi) and English.

Her sister, Saba, teaches Theology at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles.

Personal Quotes

Just because I'm in Hollywood doesn't mean that I forget that I'm Persian or that I'm Jewish. Judaism is not only my religion - it's my identity.

You dream about doing phenomenal work and being proud of your work and living you dream. I had the corporate job. I was sitting behind the computer typing away looking outside my window dreaming about pursuing this career and thinking, could I ever, and could that be me? And so, and to be able to look back and be here today and have everyone be so excited, or go to the Academy Awards and have everyone screaming my name, thinking back it was just a couple of years ago that I was sitting behind a computer desk at a job that I absolutely hated and I was so miserable there. It's mind blowing to me. I can't believe my dream has come true and it's happening. I am very grateful, I am very grateful to God, I am honored that I have the opportunity to be able to do the kind of work that I am doing.

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