Born Aahoo Jahansouzshahi on January 10, 1980 in Euless, Texas, Sarah Shahi is an actress of Iranian and Spanish descent. She was educated at Southern Methodist University and in 1997, she won the Miss Fort Worth USA pageant. In 1999, after studying opera, she became a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and later on appeared on the cover of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 2000 Swimsuit Calendar. Shahi was advised by director Robert Altman to move to LA to pursue an acting career, and thereafter moved there to appear on recurrent roles in series such as Dawson's Creek and Alias .
Sarah Shahi appeared on a number of television shows, some of them being City Guys, Spin City, Frasier and Boston Public. She continued to have small roles until landing parts in more shows, like the drama series The L Word. She gained popularity as Carmen de la Pica Morales on the Showtime series, joining the cast during its second season. Her character was written out eventually, due to her failure to renew her contract with the network. She also made an appearance as a paranormal entity on the series Supernatural, earning the title of portraying the first ever ghost to appear on the show. Shahi was next seen on HBO’s The Sopranos, playing the character Sonya Aragon, a stripper and a college student on the episode “Kennedy and Heidi.” Some of her other television projects include roles in Teachers, Reba and ER. She has starred in several TV movies like 2006’s Damages and the series pilot Plan B. Some of the films that Sarah Shahi became known for is A Lot Like Love, which starred Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet, and the Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker movie Rush Hour 3. Shahi was also given the role of Dani Reese on the NBC series Life, as the partner of former cop Charlie Crews, played by Damien Lewis. She is also a fluent speaker of English, Farsi and knows some Spanish, and is known for having a brown belt in karate.
(Photo courtesy of NBC)