Sarah Shahi



Aahoo Jahansouz "Sarah" Shahi[1]  Persian: آهو جهانسوز سارا شاهی‎ (born January 10, 1980) is an American television actress and former NFL Cheerleader. She played Kate Reed in the USAlegal drama Fairly Legal from 2011-2012 and currently stars as Samantha Shaw on the CBS crime drama Person of Interest.[2]  She has also appeared as the female main role in Life, and in supporting roles in The L Word and Alias.[3]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Early life  ==Early life[edit] == Shahi was born and grew up in Euless, Texas.[1]  She is the daughter of Mah Monir, an interior designer, and Abbas Jahansouz Shahi. Her father is from Iran, and her mother is from Spain.[4] She has one older brother[5]  and a younger sister.[6]  Her father's family left Iran two years before the Iranian Revolution.[7] [8]  Her birth name, Aahoo (Persian: آهو‎) means "gazelle" in Persian.[4] She is a descendant of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar of the Qajar Dynasty, who ruled Iran from 1797-1834.[1] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[9]
 * 2 Acting career
 * 3 Personal life
 * 4 Filmography
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Shahi adopted Sarah as her name in second grade, after hearing the song "Sarah", because she was "tormented" by other children.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mills20110124_1-3" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1]  At her father's behest she grew up speaking Persian, in addition to English. Shahi's parents began entering her in beauty pageants at the age of eight.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-agov1_8-1" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[8]  Her parents divorced when she was 10.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-tvguide_4-2" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[4]  Shahi attended Trinity High School, where she was captain of the volleyball and basketball teams, and Dallas' Southern Methodist University, majoring in English and Theater.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[10]  Shahi won the Miss Fort Worth pageant in 1997;<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[11]  hoping to become an actress, she joined the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 1999–2000 squad despite not having cheered before, and appeared on the cover of the squad's 2000 calendar before moving to Los Angeles.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mills20110124_1-4" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1] ==Acting career<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == Shahi at the 2012 Monte-Carlo Television Festival<p style="line-height:1.5em;">While working as an extra on the set of Dr. T and the Women in Texas, Shahi met director Robert Altman, who encouraged her to move to Hollywood,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mills20110124_1-5" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1]  where she received roles in several series, including Alias, Dawson's Creek, Reba, and Supernatural. She may be best known for her role as DJ Carmen de la Pica Morales on The L Word, which she joined in its second season.<sup class="Template-Fact" style="line-height:1em;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]  Shahi did not renew her contract with the series for the fourth season, and consequently her character was written out.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[12]  She also played Farah in the second season of Sleeper Cell, and also appeared in HBO's The Sopranos, in the Season 6b episode "Kennedy and Heidi" as "Sonya Aragon", a stripper and college student who spends a weekend with Tony after a death in his family.

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">She co-starred with Damian Lewis in the two-season NBC series Life as homicide detective Dani Reese.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-mills20110124_1-6" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[1] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[13]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">In October 2009, Shahi landed the lead role in the USA Network pilot, Facing Kate. Shahi began filming in November 2009.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[14]  The show follows the life of Kate Reed, a legal mediator who is frustrated with the bureaucracy and injustice she witnesses in the legal system. The series title was later changed to Fairly Legal.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[15]  The show was cancelled after two seasons in November 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[16]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Shahi was cast as a recurring love interest for Taylor Kinney's character Lt. Kelly Severide on NBC's show Chicago Fire in October, 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[17]  She was also cast as the possibly recurring character of Sam Shaw on Person of Interest. She was featured in the sixteenth episode of the second season, "Relevance", which aired in February 2013.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[18]  In May, 2013 CBS PresidentNina Tassler announced that Shahi would be added as a series regular for its third season.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[19] ==Personal life<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] == <p style="line-height:1.5em;">Shahi married actor Steve Howey on February 7, 2009, in Las Vegas. On July 8, 2009, Shahi delivered their first child, son William Wolf Howey,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[20]  during an at-home water birth.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[21]

<p style="margin-top:0.4em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:1.5em;">Shahi was named no. 90 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list; she moved up to no. 66 in 2006 <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[22]  and rose to no. 36 in 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[23]  She appeared on the cover of Maxim's 2012 'TV's Hottest Girls' Issue in October 2012.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[24]  She ranked no. 5 on the AfterEllen.com hot list in 2007.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[25] ==Filmography<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;padding-right:0.25em;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;">[edit] ==