Erick Avari

Erick Avari
Avari at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 18, 2009.
Born	Nariman Eruch Avari April 13, 1952 (age 59) Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–present

Early life

Erick Avari was born Nariman Eruch Avari in Darjeeling, West Bengal, 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, Flight of the Living Dead (2007), The Mummy, Daredevil, Home Alone 4, Planet of the Apes and Mr. Deeds. Along withAlexis Cruz, he is one of only two actors to appear in both the original Stargate movie and the spin-off series Stargate SG-1 (3 episodes). 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 Theaterand as Sir Richard at The Guthrie Theater's memorable production of The Screens.

He has also made guest appearances on Castle, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Heroes, Hope & Faith, Law & Order, Lie to me, 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, Leverage and Human Target. He played cameo roles in JAG, Living People, NYPD Blue, Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, Roseanne, Judging Amy, NCIS and Everwood. 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 episodeSeven 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, and Home Alone 4 (2002). Avari also acted opposite Richard Gere in a drama film based on a true story: Hachi: A Dog's Tale, in which he played Jasjeet, an Indian hot dog vendor.

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. In January 2009, he was cast as the cell phone salesman in Paul Blart: Mall Cop