Anthony Azizi

Anthony Azizi started his career many years ago, as a child, acting in plays for the Touchstone Theater run by Bill and Bridget George in Bethlehem, PA. He also started writing and staging his own plays at the age of eight for school and other public venues. He continued in the arts throughout all of his schooling. Anthony attended Freedom High School where went to school with fellow alums Daniel Dae Kim and Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. Anthony attributes the love for acting and the inspiration to pursue it as a career to Cathy Caparrazo and Mrs. Bauer while attending Freedom High School. Anthony was accepted to Muhlenberg College with a soccer scholarship, but soon fell into acting once again after a very bad knee injury ended his collegiate soccer career. While at Muhlenberg he received his BFA in Theater Arts and soon was performing in many of the plays and musicals at Muhlenberg. He starred in the world premier of accomplished playwright Jim Ryan's "South Pacific Snow" and was nominated for an Irene Ryan award for his portrayal of Sam in "The Miss Firecracker Contest." Anthony gives a lot of the credit for choosing a career in acting to Charlie Richter who was the head of the theater department at Muhlenberg. He believes that Richter's belief in him translated to belief in himself to make the choice of moving ahead with his professional career. Upon graduating, Anthony moved straight to New York and lived with his college buddy Spencer Holover. Although broke, Anthony believes that his "starving acting" period in New York was some of his happiest years as an artist. Anthony did not waste any time starting to do plays all over New York including working at the famed Ensemble Studio Theater run by the late Kurt Dempster and the Thirteenth St. Reparatory Company run by the legendary Edith O'Hara. It was at the 13th Street Rep where he finally got noticed in New York in the play "Three of a Kind." The play landed him his first agent and soon it was off to Los Angeles. Anthony ran his own theater company in New York called The Clandestine Group which used 13th Street's space to stage its own productions. Once in LA, Anthony started working quickly in film and television. In 1996, Bryan Spicer hired him to play one of Tim Curry's sidekicks in the Universal feature McHale's Navy. Anthony attributes this film to be one of his first and biggest breaks in his career. Anthony also credits Curry for mentoring him through his first studio picture by graciously teaching him the dos and don'ts of the business. Soon after McHale's Navy other roles started coming in including Three Kings with George Clooney, For Richer or Poorer with Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, Tomcats with Jerry O'Connell, and many TV guest spots working with some of the best in the business including Eddie Griffin, Maria Bello, Kevin Dillon, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Chiklis, and many more. In 2001 came The Lost Battalion, a film about the battle of Argonne in France in which American forces were heavily outnumbered by the Germans but were able to turn them back, thus ending World War I. Anthony was very proud of the film which received critical acclaim for A & E. It was produced by the legendary David Gerber whom Anthony attributes for giving him another break in the business. In 2003 Azizi landed his first series in ABC's one hour drama Threat Matrix starring opposite James Denton and Kelly Rutherford. He played Mo', a courageous Egyptian-American former CIA agent assigned to an elite task force whose mission is to keep the country safe from terrorism. The show took television audiences behind the headlines and into the world of homeland security. After extensive research, it came to light that Anthony was the first Iranian American actor in history to be a series regular on a network one hour drama and holds this as one of the most crowning achievements in his career. Anthony continued to work in many series after Threat Matrix including Dragnet with Ed O'Neil and Ethan Embry, NYPD Blue, The Shield, The West Wing, Gilmore Girls to name a few. In 2002, he recurred as Mamud Faheen on the groundbreaking series 24 with Kiefer Sutherland; and then again in 2005 as Rafique. He has also recurred on Desperate Housewives playing Mr. Falati which reunited him with his Threat Matrix costar James Denton and producer George Perkins. In 2005 Anthony got a call from Rod Lurie asking him to do his series Commander in Chief. No time was wasted in saying yes to the groundbreaking series about the first female president of the United States starring Geena Davis and Donald Sutherland. It was to be one of the most fulfilling experiences in Azizi's career. He played Vince Taylor, Chief Aid to the President of the United States, and his character was gay and had HIV. The show was critically acclaimed and the pilot was seen by 17 million viewers. Commander in Chief received a Peoples Choice Award nomination in 2005, as well as a GLAAD nomination for best series primarily because of Anthony's portrayal of Vince Taylor. Many other guest spots came after Commander in Chief including CSI Miami, Without a Trace, Sleeper Cell, and Criminal Minds alongside Mandy Patinkin for which the episode won a couple of awards. In 2006, Anthony starred opposite Tony Shalhoub in the film AmericanEast for director Hesham Issawi. The film has been an official selection for many of the world's most prominent film festivals and has won numerous awards. The film addresses the relationship between Muslims and Jews living in Los Angeles. Anthony Azizi is currently recurring on the hit TV series Lost playing Omar which has reunited him with his dear friend Daniel Dae Kim whom he went to high school with. Anthony played in rock band growing up and still would like to reunite for a few shows with his band mates. Scott Bradoka, who was their guitarist, is now an accomplished musician. Azizi was the Homecoming King of his high school and still maintains close ties to his roots in Pennsylvania and New York. Anthony has a production company with his dear friend and ex Threat Matrix cast mate Kurt Caceres. They are producing many projects including a film with Mark Frydman of Battleplan Productions. Anthony has a sister, Mona, who was a reporter for an ABC affiliate news station in New York. Azizi is involved in many social causes including Equality Now and The Noor Film Festival which he co-founded. He is married to Cymbeline Smith, an actress from England, whom he says is "a way better and more talented actor than I am." They reside in LA with their twin boys Kambel and Smith -- the greatest achievement to date for Azizi. Anthony Azizi is a member of the Baha'i Faith - the guiding compass in his life.