Bahar Soomekh Biography

Bahar Soomekh (born March 30, 1975) is an Iranian-born American actress.

Soomekh was born in Tehran, Iran, to a Persian Jewish family, and moved with her parents and sister to Los Angeles in 1979, after the Iranian revolution. Her name, "Bahar", means "spring" in Persian. She attended Sinai Akiba Academy and Beverly Hills High School, where she played the violin in the school orchestra, before taking environmental studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Soomekh began working at a corporate job, and took acting classes at night, before quitting her job to pursue a full-time acting career.

Soomekh has appeared in several films, including Academy Award-winning Crash as Dorri, and has guest starred on several television shows, including two different roles on JAG. Her most recent role was in the action-thriller Mission: Impossible III, which opened in May of 2006. She has been cast in the horror film Saw III, which began filming in May and is currently scheduled for a release on October 27, 2006.