Sarah Shahi

Biography of Sarah Shahi

Aahoo Jahansouz Shahi was born on January 10, 1980 in Euless, Texas. She is an American actress.

Sarah Shahi's father Abbas Shahi is from Iran, her mother Mahmonir is Spanish. In 1993 her parents divorced. Sarah Shahi has an older brother and a younger sister. From 1999 to 2000, Shahi danced with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) and appeared on the cover of the DCC's 2000 calendar. She then studied English and opera at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In 2005, men's magazine ranked Maxim Shahi 90th in its list of the 100 sexiest women; In 2006 she reached 66th place here.

While on the set of Dr. T and the Women, she met director Robert Altman in 2000, who encouraged her to go to Los Angeles and become an actress. There she got some roles in TV series like Alias , Dawson's Creek, The ER and Supernatural. She had her breakthrough with The L Word, where she played the Latina Carmen de la Pica Morales from the second season alongside actresses such as Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig and Pam Grier.

Beginning in 2007, she co-starred as Detective Dani Reese alongside Damian Lewis on the NBC crime series Life. In addition to other guest roles in Sleeper Cell, Damages, The Sopranos and Psych. She starred as the lead character Kate Reed for USA Network's Fairly Legal for two seasons.

From October 2012, she took on a supporting role as Renée Royce, the girlfriend of Kelly Severide (played by Taylor Kinney) in Chicago Fire. From 2013 to 2016, she played a supporting role as Sameen Shaw on the CBS series Person of Interest, which expanded to a starring role at the start of its third season (2014). In The Rookie, she played a former FBI agent and the girlfriend of Nathan Fillion's character.

Shahi is fluent in English and Persian. She was married to actor Steve Howey, whom she met while filming the US sitcom Reba in 2004. The couple separated in 2020 and divorced the following year. In 2009 she gave birth to her first child together; In 2015, the couple became parents of twins.

In 2020, she met Australian actor Adam Demos while filming the Netflix series Sex/Life. The two have been a couple ever since.