| NYLAMAG.com
August 31, 2007
It didn’t take long for Los Angeles resident Aahoo Jahansouzshahi,
better known as SARAH SHAHI, to become the quintessential
Persian female sexy symbol. The 27-year-old former beauty queen
(she won the Miss Fort Worth-Texas USA Pageant in 1997) and Dallas
Cowboys cheerleader (she was on the cover of the sexy group’s
2000 calendar) has been hot - and then some - since she was barely
legal.
And talk about versatility: the 5-foot-4 Shahi has played the role
of a sassy journalist (Dawson’s Creek), a curvy sorority
girl taking blow job lessons (the movie Old School), an
alien (the CW show Supernatural), a stripper (HBO’s
The Sopranos) and a popular lesbian disc jockey (Showtime’s
The L Word).
But from where does Shahi muster the spiciness to play such compromising
roles? Well, for one thing, her biological mom is Spanish. “Two
very hot tempers is what my parents had,” Shahi said in a
recent magazine interview. “My dad, the Persian side, was
very controlling; very old-school, very traditional, very strict.
Works for some people. Not my mother. He was charming, no doubt.
You can see why she took a chance. But my mom was – is –
just totally, ultra, in touch with her body, very Spanish. Every
night was a party with her growing up.”
And though she’s only half Persian, it is quite some half:
she’s a descendent of 19th century Iranian Shah Fat'h Ali
Shah Qajar. Oh, and did I mention she graduated from Southern Methodist
University near the top of her class and holds a brown belt in Karate?
So what does Shahi think of Persian men? "Persian men are very
lavish, and they're very ostentatious," Shahi exclaims. "I
don't care who you are - any girl at some point wouldn't mind experiencing
some of that. It's like, 'I give you a shoe made of gold...' You're
like, 'Okay.' But on the whole, what's attractive is when a man
is open and not putting up any kind of facade, not playing the game.
It's always the really simple things that get a girl's heart. You
don't have to go out of your way; just pick up a pen and a little
Post-it, and you're good."
Shahi holds the distinction of being the first Persian female named
to Maxim magazine’s “Hot 100 list” twice.
She was was voted in 2005, and moved up to #66 in 2006. And those
wanting to get a fix of her on the big screen can check her out
in the summer blockbuster Rush Hour 3 starring Christ Tucker
and Jackie Chan, where she plays a rich Paris Hilton-type diva in
the opening scene.
Look for Shahi to star opposite Tony Shalhoub (The Monk)
and Orlando Jones in Beatle Boyin, set to hit the big screen
in 2008, and in the upcoming independent film AmericanEast
alongside fellow Persian actors Sam Golzari (American Dreamz)
and Anthony Azizi.
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