Kathreen Khavari
Khavari at the 2019 WonderCon
Born
Oakland, California, U.S.[1]
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Actress, writer, producer, voice actress

Kathreen Aziz Khavari (Persian: کاترین خاوری;) is an American actress, writer, and producer who first gained attention[2] when her sketch Brain of Terror, in which she played eleven different characters, went viral after it was featured on Upworthy.[3] She is best known for her role as Patricia on HBO's Insecure, Samantha on HBO's Big Little Lies, and for voicing Ms. Marvel in various Marvel Entertainment animated series and video games.[4][5][6]

Early life

Khavari was born and raised in Oakland, California to Iranian immigrant parents. After graduating from Skyline High School, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, studying public health, then later earned a Master's degree from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in Control of Infectious Diseases.[1]

Career

Khavari realized her childhood passion of acting was unwavering, and upon returning home from London, she took small acting jobs while working in the public health field.[7] She made her off-Broadway debut in “You Are Dead, You Are Here” at the Here Arts Center in New York. [8]

In response to Trump's "Muslim Ban," Khavari made headlines at the premier of Big Little Lies when she wore a dress that read "My Iranian Immigrant Mother Teaches Your Kids How to Read".[9][10][11][12][13]

Khavari's satirical sketches, which she posted to her YouTube channel Brain of Terror, touched on various social justice issues including gun control, Islamophobia, women's reproductive rights, and police brutality against black men in America.[14][15]

In 2022, she was the voice of Badyah Hassan in the Netflix animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park. She was also announced as the voice of a new Transformers robot, Twitch, in the Nickelodeon series Transformers: EarthSpark.

Khavari’s Oakland-based pilot, Embrace, debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in their Indie Episodic category.[16][17] The pilot also won the Episodic Pilot Competition Jury Award at SXSW[18] “For its originality of voice, its depiction of characters and relationships that are both enigmatic and appealing, as well as telling an absorbing story in a world unseen on television at the moment.”[19]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Director
2020 The Night (2020 Film) Elahe Kourosh Ahari
2016 Mascots (2016 Film) Bosphorus Cooper (Las Palmas Desk Clerk) Christopher Guest

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Love Bites Young Lawyer Episode: "Firsts"
2011 Blue Bloods Alya Demir (uncredited) Episode: "Thanksgiving"
2013 Famous Farrah Farrah Satrapi/ “Dorian Plague” Main role
2016-2018 Avengers Assemble Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) Recurring role
2016-2018 Insecure Patricia Recurring role
2017 Big Little Lies Samantha Recurring role
2017 Ginger Snaps Cheerleader #1 (voice) Recurring role
2017 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! Zara (voice) Episode: "Protein Titans 2"
2017-2018 Marvel Future Avengers Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Muneeba Khan (voice) Recurring role, English dub
2018 Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters Young Riya Dashti (voice) 2 episodes
2018 Marvel Rising: Initiation Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) TV film
2018 Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Mom (voice) TV film
2018 Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) TV film
2018 Spider-Man Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Shannon Stillwell (voices) Recurring role
2019 Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) TV film
2019 Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) TV film
2019 Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) TV film
2020 Embrace Co-writer (with Chuck Neal) and star Main role
2022 Dead End: Paranormal Park Badyah (voice) Netflix original animated series
2022 Transformers: EarthSpark Twitch Malto (voice) Main role

Video games

Year Title Role
2018 Marvel Battle Lines Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan
2019 Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan[20]
2021 Destruction AllStars Tw!nkleR10t[20]

References

  1. ^ a b "Episode 12: The Importance of Persistence in Acting and Business with Kathreen Khavari". TheAsianAmericanVoice.com. The Asian American Voice. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18.
  2. ^ King, Jamilah (23 January 2014). "Iranian-American Actress Gets Fed Up With Hollywood's Racism". Color Lines. Race Forward. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
  3. ^ Lamour, Joseph (6 February 2014). "This actress is having the most entertaining identity crisis I've seen in a while". Upworthy. Upworthy. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  4. ^ "Women of Marvel Podcast Kat Khavari". Marvel.com. Marvel.
  5. ^ Damore, Meagan (9 October 2017). "NYCC: Marvel Animation Promises More Ms. Marvel, Black Panther, Venom". CBR.com. CBR. Retrieved October 9, 2017.
  6. ^ Dietsch, TJ. "'MARVEL'S AVENGERS: ULTRON REVOLUTION' PLUNGES INTO CIVIL WAR". Marvel.com. Marvel. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  7. ^ Khavari, Kathreen. "Author Kathreen Khavari". Huffpost.com. Huffington Post.
  8. ^ "Photo Flash: First Look at YOU ARE DEAD. YOU ARE HERE., Beg. Tonight at HERE". Broadwayworld.com. Broadway World. 5 June 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  9. ^ Jensen, Erin. "Reese Witherspoon, daughter Ava Phillippe are twins at 'Big Little Lies' premiere". USA Today. USA Today. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  10. ^ Patel, Arti (9 February 2017). "Actress Kathreen Khavari Has A Pretty Blunt Message For Trump On Her Dress". Huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  11. ^ Ongley, Hannah (9 February 2017). "Actress Kathreen Khavari Wears a Bold Political Message To Her Latest Premiere". I-D.vice.com. i-D. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  12. ^ Fuller, Gillian (9 February 2017). "Kathreen Khavari of 'Big Little Lies' Wore a Scathing Anti-Trump Dress on the Red Carpet". Allure.com. Allure. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  13. ^ Wood, Zoe (14 October 2017). "The fashion world speaks out: 'Without immigration, we'd be selling potato sacks'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  14. ^ Aran, Isha (14 September 2016). "The voice of Ms. Marvel is a superhero in her own right". Splinternews.com. Splinter News. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
  15. ^ Sayed, Kelli. "Muslim Ms. Marvel Issues Reigh of Terror". Altmuslimah.com. Alt Muslimah. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  16. ^ "Embrace". Sundance.org. Sundance Institute.
  17. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (4 February 2020). "'Embrace':Iranian Immigrant Dramedy Looks to Create Connection in a Divisive Time—Sundance Studio". Deadline Hollywood. Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  18. ^ Roberts, Jordan (24 March 2020). "The 2020 SXSW Film Festival Announces Jury and Special Awards". SXSW. SWSX. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  19. ^ Mcnary, Dave (24 March 2020). "SXSW Film Festival Unveils 2020 Winners After Cancellation". Variety. Variety. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Kathreen Khavari (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 14 June 2021. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.((cite web)): CS1 maint: postscript (link)

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