Ali Saam

Ali Saam was born in Tehran, Iran. Growing up, he was a huge fan of characters such as Batman and Zorro and Western films and TV shows in general. He moved to the United States in the late 1970s to continue his education abroad. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems (CIS), and after living in different cities he decided to settle in Los Angeles to follow his passion, acting, and work on turning his dreams into reality. He started his training at Stella Adler Conservatory of Theatre and continued on at the Actors Circle Theater where he studied under the direction of famed instructor, Arthur Mendoza, for several years. His lead role as Tony in "The Big Picture" directed by Penny Johnson was his debut in theater, and his supporting role as Joseph Dimarco, an Italian mobster, in Redemption (2002) was his film acting debut. Ali has performed in numerous plays from Shakespeare to contemporary American such as the critically acclaimed and successful, Aaron Kozak's "The Birthday Boys," which went into production in 2011 in Los Angeles and later in Dallas and received nominations for Best Ensemble and won the 2010 Hollywood Fringe First Award (world premiere) and the LA Fringe Award (LA Theatre Review Critic's Choice). He also played diverse characters for the big screen; Jasmine, a sentimental transvestite, in Jew Tales (2005), a thoughtful father of a teenage girl in A Conversation to Remember (2010), Jack, a mysterious homeless man, in award winning film, $lowdown (2011) -- which he was also involved with writing and producing -- whereby his moving performance received nomination for Best Actor from the 4th Annual Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles. He recently appeared in Ben Affleck's Best Picture Academy Award winner film Argo (2012) about the CIA's risky plan to free six Americans who had found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador after the 1979 hostage taking of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, as Ali Khalkhali, the security head of the Revolutionary Guard in charge of finding the missing American diplomats.