Erick Avari

Erick Avari
Avari at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, 18 October 2009.
Born	Nariman Eruch Avari April 13, 1952 (1952-04-13) (age 57) Darjeeling, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–present
Official website

Erick Avari (born 13 April 1952) is an Indian American television, film and theater actor best known for his roles in various science-fiction serial productions.

Early life

Erick Avari was born Nariman Eruch Avari^[1] in Darjeeling, India, into an old Parsi-Zoroastrian family of that town in the Himalayan foothills. His father Eruch Avari ran two movie theatres (the Capitol and the Rink) there. His early education was at the prestigious North Point School (the school division of the St. Joseph's College), which he attended as a day-scholar. He studied at the College of Charleston, in South Carolina.

Erick is a member of the Avari-Madan family of Darjeeling and Calcutta. His great-grandfather was Jamshedji Framji Madan, one of the pioneers of Indian cinema.

Career

Avari is known for his roles in films such as Stargate, Independence Day, The Mummy, Daredevil, Home Alone 4, Planet of the Apes and Mr. Deeds. Along with Alexis Cruz, he is one of only two actors to appear in both the original Stargate movie and the spin-off series Stargate SG-1. However, before arriving in Los Angeles in 1991, his extensive work onstage has garnered him much praise from theater critics across America, most notably as Vasquez, in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore with Val Kilmer at the Joseph Papp Public Theater and as Sir Richard at The Guthrie Theater's memorable production of The Screens.

He has also made guest appearances on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Hope & Faith, Law & Order, Star Trek: The Next Generation, seaQuest DSV, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, The West Wing, The X-Files, Dharma & Greg, Babylon 5, Alias, The O.C., The Sarah Silverman Program and Leverage. He played cameo roles in JAG, Living People, NYPD Blue, Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, Judging Amy and NCIS. In the video game Zork Grand Inquisitor, he played Grand Inquisitor Mir Yannick, a ruthless dictator who serves as the game's main villain. He acted in The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines.

Beginning in the autumn of 2006, a photograph of Avari and a recording of his voice have been used in the role of Chandra Suresh in Heroes. The actor did not appear on screen until the episode Seven Minutes to Midnight, as his character is one of the backstory and had died before the events of the pilot. When the character does appear it is only in flashbacks until Six Months Ago, when the story moves back to six months before the events of the pilot episode. In this episode, Suresh is seen as he moves to New York and contacts people on "the list" he generated of those he believes to have special genetic aberrations.

In the course of his career, Avari has portrayed representatives of more than 24 different nationalities.^{[citation needed]} As of November 2006, Avari has appeared in 33 feature films and over 70 television episodes. Avari has appeared with Brent Spiner in four different productions: Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Independence Day (1996), The Master of Disguise & Home Alone 4 in (2002) as Prescott.

Avari was scheduled to reappear in his role as Kasuf in the Stargate SG-1 season six finale "Full Circle", but failed to do so due to his commitment to Dragnet (2003).

In October 2009, he was cast as Omar on Days of our Lives.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Erick Avari at the Internet Movie Database
• Erick Avari at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)