Omid Abtahi

Omid Abtahi (born July 12, 1979) is an Iranian-born American actor. He is best known for his roles as Salim in Starz Original American Gods, Penn Pershing in The Mandalorian on Disney+, Saleem Ulman in NCIS on Paramount+, and Homes in the fourth installment of The Hunger Games film series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. He is also known for his performances as Justin Yates in Ghost Whisperer on CBS and Detective Jerry Molbeck in the American TV adaptation of Those Who Kill on A&E.

Early life and education
Abtahi was born in Tehran, Iran. At the age of 5 he moved to Paris with his family and later they moved to the United States, finally moving to Irvine, Orange County, California when he was 10.

Abtahi graduated from University High School in Irvine in 1997 and attended California State University, Fullerton. He began studying advertising, then picked up a second major in theater and graduated in 2002.

Career
Before acting on television, Abtahi performed on stage in many theatrical productions including Fraulein Else at the Berkeley Repertory, McCarter Theatre and Longwarf Theatre; Adoration of the Old Woman at the Sundance Theatre Lab and Your Everyday Typical Romantic Comedy at the Kennedy Centre. He has also guest starred on the television series JAG, Judging Amy and 24. He played Justin Yates in Ghost Whisperer.

After arriving in Los Angeles, Abtahi was a series regular on FX's Over There and Showtime's Sleeper Cell.

Abtahi made his New York stage debut in Urge for Going by Mona Mansour. He is also the voice of Farid in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and of Sergeant John Lugo in Spec Ops: The Line. He also voices Victor "Gator" Diallo in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.