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If he shares some physical similarity to Western Spaghetti Bad Guy Lee Van Cleef , Shaun Toub’s friendly smile when he greets fans and fellow colleagues at film festivals immediately breaks the ice and shadows of doubt that could confound the actor and his on-screen personifications.
His performance as Farhad in Paul Haggis's Oscar-winning film 'Crash', a critical and box office surprise hit, received positive reviews. He has been again noticed in the latest Biblical Epic The Nativity Story along with co-star Shohreh Aghdashloo, that has been making headlines as the very first film ever to be projected at the Vatican and getting the approval and acclaim of Pope Benedict XVI for a movie that is not aimed for only a religious community or market.
Interestingly Toub like many other actors of Persian/Iranian heritage are slowly getting their voice heard in the Hollywood mainstream movies. If the parts are often reduced to supporting roles, they are nevertheless interestingly distancing themselves from the stereotyped terrorist typecasts so often proposed to middle eastern actors.
This has also allowed a greater trend and that of screen adaptations of some of acclaimed literary works of middle eastern authors, like the highly expected movie adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s novel “Reading Lolita in Tehran” that is in development or that of Afghan author Khaled Hosseini’s best selling novel The Kite Runner that is currently in production with Shaun Toub, French Moroccan Saïd Taghmaoui and Afghan Wali Razaqi, that will be directed by German director Marc Forster, who got World notice with his excellent biographical film Finding Neverland on British writer James Matthew Barrie with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in the title roles.
Khaled Hosseini's stunning debut novel The Kite Runner follows a young boy, Amir, as he faces the challenges that confront him on the path to manhood—testing friendships, finding love, cheating death, accepting faults, and gaining understanding. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. Amir lives in constant want of his father's attention, feeling that he is a failure in his father's eyes. Hassan, on the other hand, seems to be able to do no wrong. Their friendship is a complex tapestry of love, loss, privilege, and shame.
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Striving to be the son his father always wanted, Amir takes on the weight of living up to unrealistic expectations and places the fate of his relationship with his father on the outcome of a kite running tournament, a popular challenge in which participants must cut down the kites of others with their own kite. Amir wins the tournament. Yet just as he begins to feel that all will be right in the world, a tragedy occurs with his friend Hassan in a back alley on the very streets where the boys once played. This moment marks a turning point in Amir's life—one whose memory he seeks to bury by moving to America. There he realizes his dream of becoming a writer and marries for love but the memory of that fateful day will prove too strong to forget. Eventually it draws Amir back to Afghanistan to right the wrongs that began that day in the alley and continued in the days, months, and years that followed …
ShaunToub was Raised in Manchester, England. At the age of 14, Shaun moved to Switzerland and after a two year stay, he crossed the Atlantic to Nashua, New Hampshire to finish his last year of high school. His high school yearbook notes: 'The Funniest guy in school and the most likely to succeed in the entertainment world.' After two years of college in Massachusetts, Shaun transferred to USC. Through a chance encounter with an astute talent agent, he broke into the Hollywood scene with hope in his heart and a natural talent to entertain.
Toub has received accolades for several of his appearances in over 100 television episodes including Seinfeld, the Sopranos, ER, Just Shoot Me, Nash Bridges, Jag, The Bold and the Beautiful, the New Adventures of Superman, Married with Children and various movies made for television.
His filmography includes his memorable performance in Michael Bay's Bad Boys with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, John Woo's Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater, Mick Jackson's Live from Baghdad starring Michael Keaton and Helena Bonham Carter for HBO, and Path to Paradise with Peter Gallagher, Marcia Gay Harden also for HBO. As one of the pioneer actors of the Persian Diaspora film community in Ramin Serry’s film Maryam, he has become one of the recurrent recognizable male Persian faces like Anthony Azizi or Maz Jobrani on American film productions.
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Shaun is very proud of his Persian heritage and is very active in the community. Through various charity events and public speaking engagements, he inspires the community to embrace the arts, as the arts enhance everyday life.
Shaun resides in Los Angeles. Loves the out doors, sports and music.
Photo 1: Shaun Toub ©imdb.com
Photo 2: (Right) Marc Forster currently shooting The Kite Runner (Center) based on Khaled Hosseini’s (Left) autobiographical novel. ©Khaled Hosseini, Shaun Toub, Marc Forster imdb.com
Photo 3: Iranian Shaun Toub Stars as Joachim and Palestinian-Israeli actress Hiam Abbass (Munich) stars as Anna ©New Line Cinema
Photo 4: Forest Whitaker, Shaun Toub ©WireImages
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