---
name: "Faran Tahir"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/faran-tahir"
fi1m_id: "faran-tahir"
imdb_id: "nm0846687"
tmdb_id: 57452
wikidata_id: "Q371972"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "16 February 1963"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 74
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-24T08:06:55.307279+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Faran Tahir

## Identity

Faran Tahir

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/faran-tahir
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** faran-tahir
- **IMDb ID:** nm0846687
- **TMDB ID:** 57452
- **Wikidata ID:** Q371972
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faran_Tahir, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q371972, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846687/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/57452

Actor. Born 16 February 1963 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 16 February 1963, Los Angeles, California, USA
- **Active:** 2008–2013
- **Also known as:** Faran Haroon Tahir
- **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 80 (2), 2010s 60 (1)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 71 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 2 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Action 3, Science Fiction 3, Adventure 2, Drama 1, Thriller 1
- **Screen time:** 6 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,258m across 3 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faran_Tahir, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q371972, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0846687/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/57452

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Iron Man*](https://film.one/film/iron-man.md) (80)
- **Netflix:** [*Elysium*](https://film.one/film/elysium.md) (60)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Faran Tahir

> Faran Tahir is the actor Hollywood calls when it needs a warlord, a starship captain or a president to be believed in under a minute. The stage-trained voice does the work; the films rarely give him a second scene to use it in.

Watch what Faran Tahir does with Raza in *Iron Man* (2008), the man who takes Tony Stark prisoner. He does not shout. He talks to his hostage as one professional to another, and the threat sits in the patience rather than the volume. Tahir has said he played Raza as a mercenary rather than a zealot and stripped out any reference to faith, and you can see the decision on screen: this is a man doing a job, which makes him harder to dismiss than the film's later villains. We found, coming back to *Iron Man*, that the captivity scenes hold up better than the fighting around them, and Tahir is part of the reason. A quiet captor is more frightening than a loud one.

The career runs on that quality. He began in 1994 as Nathoo in Disney's *The Jungle Book*, spent years in independent films and television guest parts, and then had three years of prominent supporting roles in large science fiction: Raza, Captain Robau of the USS Kelvin in *Star Trek* (2009), and President Patel in *Elysium* (2013). Each is a man with authority and very little screen time. Our review of *Elysium*, which admired the first forty minutes and lost patience with the rest, did not find room to mention its president at all. That is not an insult to Tahir. It is a fair description of the part.

The reason he can carry these small parts is that he does most of his real acting elsewhere. He comes from a Pakistani theatre family, trained classically, and has played Othello (2012 and 2016), Richard III (2018) and Macbeth, three of those productions with the theatre director Steven Maler. He has said the choice was deliberate: "If I could handle verse, do Shakespeare, there was a place for actors like me." He has been open that his early screen career was hemmed in by stereotyped supporting roles, and that he built the stage work partly to get out of them. It shows in how he handles a line of exposition: the voice has been trained on harder material.

In recent years he has taken on Pakistani productions, producing and directing as well as acting, while keeping up the American screen work. The screen has used him for the same forty seconds of gravity for two decades. If you want to know what he can actually do, a theatre ticket will still tell you more than any of the films will.

## Biography

Faran Tahir is a Pakistani-American actor. Born in Los Angeles in 1963, he grew up in Pakistan and returned to the United States in 1980. He studied business economics at the University of California, Berkeley before completing an MFA at Harvard University's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training.

Tahir made his film debut as Nathoo in *The Jungle Book* (1994). He is known for his role as Raza in *Iron Man* (2008), Captain Robau in *Star Trek* (2009) and President Patel in *Elysium* (2013). His other film credits include *Escape Plan* (2013) and *Coup!* (2023). Television appearances include *Grey's Anatomy*, *Lost*, *Supernatural* and *Criminal Minds*. In 2016 he played the title role in a production of *Othello* by the Shakespeare Theatre Company.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Elysium* (2013), Fi1m 60, as President Patel — [page](https://film.one/film/elysium.md)
- *Star Trek* (2009), Fi1m 81, as Captain Robau — [page](https://film.one/film/star-trek.md)
- *Iron Man* (2008), Fi1m 80, as Raza — [page](https://film.one/film/iron-man.md)

## Complete filmography (76)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Paper Flowers* (2026), as Mr. Shah
- *Axanar: The Gathering Storm* (2026), as Captain Richard Robau
- *Tapish* (2026), series, Actor
- *Leader* (2026), series, Actor
- *The Martial Artist* (2025), as Dada · Producer
- *Witness* (2024), as Imam Mustafa
- *The Window* (2024), as Farhad
- *Coup!* (2024), as Kaan
- *UmroAyyar - A New Beginning* (2024), Actor
- *The Old Man* (2022), series, as Rahmani
- *Injustice* (2021), as Ra's al Ghul (vocie)
- *CSI: Vegas* (2021), series, as Gray Suit
- *Lamya's Poem* (2021), as Baha Walad (voice)
- *I'll Meet You There* (2020), as Majeed
- *Boris and the Bomb* (2019), as Sammi
- *FBI* (2018), series, as Ravi Sharma
- *Mad Genius* (2017), as Eden
- *MacGyver* (2016), series, as The Fence
- *Honeyglue* (2016), as Dr. Konig
- *The Magicians* (2015), series, as The Great Cock of the Darkling Woods
- *Supergirl* (2015), series, as The Commander
- *Flight World War II* (2015), as William Strong
- *American Crime* (2015), series, as Rhys Bashir
- *12 Monkeys* (2015), series, as Mallick
- *How to Get Away with Murder* (2014), series, as Terrence Amos
- *Jinn* (2014), as Ali
- *Crisis* (2014), series, as Tariq Rind
- *Torn* (2013), as Ali Munsif
- *Escape Plan* (2013), as Javed
- *Elysium* (2013), as President Patel — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/elysium.md)
- *Star Trek: Secrets of the Universe* (2013), as Richar Robau (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *Mr. Jones* (2013), as The Anthropologist
- *Elementary* (2012), series, as Ramses Mattoo
- *Dallas* (2012), series, as 'Smiling' Frank
- *Scandal* (2012), series, as President Rashad
- *Once Upon a Time* (2011), series, as Captain Nemo — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/once-upon-a-time.md)
- *Ashes* (2011), as Kartik
- *Shameless* (2011), series, as Adeeb Singh — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/shameless-2011.md)
- *Hawaii Five-0* (2010), series, as Lucky Morad — Fi1m 65, [page](https://film.one/tv/hawaii-five-0.md)
- *NCIS: Los Angeles* (2009), series, as Hassad Al-Jahiri
- *Warehouse 13* (2009), series, as Adwin Kosan
- *Star Trek* (2009), as Captain Robau — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/star-trek.md)
- *Childrens Hospital* (2008), series, as Malik
- *In Plain Sight* (2008), series, as Ali Tavali
- *Iron Man* (2008), as Raza — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/iron-man.md)
- *Charlie Wilson's War* (2007), as Brigadier Rashid
- *Private Practice* (2007), series, as Charles
- *Chuck* (2007), series, as Farrokh Bulsara — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/chuck.md)
- *Burn Notice* (2007), series, as Ahmad Damour
- *Manticore* (2005), as Umari
- *Over There* (2005), series, as Hamza
- *Criminal Minds* (2005), series, as Tivon Askari — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/tv/criminal-minds.md)
- *Supernatural* (2005), series, as Osiris — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/supernatural.md)
- *Grey's Anatomy* (2005), series, as Isaac — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/greys-anatomy.md)
- *Lost* (2004), series, as Ishmael Bakir — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/lost.md)
- *Monk* (2002), series, as Museum Official
- *24* (2001), series, as Tomas Sherek, Mosque Greeter — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/tv/24.md)
- *Alias* (2001), series, as Mokhtar — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/alias.md)
- *The Agency* (2001), series, as India's Secret Police leader, Jamar Akil
- *Boston Public* (2000), series, as Mr. Mubarik
- *FreakyLinks* (2000), series, as Doctor
- *Anywhere but Here* (1999), as Hisham Badir
- *ABCD* (1999), as Raj
- *The West Wing* (1999), series, as Manny — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-west-wing.md)
- *Family Law* (1999), series, as Dr. Singh
- *Charmed* (1998), series, as Savard
- *Urban Relics* (1998), as Rasheed
- *A Price Above Rubies* (1998), as Hrundi Kapoor
- *Picture Perfect* (1997), as Sajit
- *The Practice* (1997), series, as Dr. Michael Shields
- *7th Heaven* (1996), series, as Mr. Halawi
- *JAG* (1995), series, as Amad Bin Atwa
- *The Jungle Book* (1994), as Nathoo
- *Party of Five* (1994), series, as Radiologist — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/party-of-five.md)
- *Law & Order* (1990), series, as Mr. Khan — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/law-and-order.md)
- *IJ Inspector Jamshed*, as Zafar Burki

## Gallery

- ![A photo of actor Faran Tahir taken by Phil Konstantin in San Diego, California on May 30, 2008.](https://film.one/media/person/100122/gallery-9be7d6a71eaa.jpg) A photo of actor Faran Tahir taken by Phil Konstantin in San Diego, California on May 30, 2008. — Phil Konstantin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/FaranTahirByPhilKonstantin1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![A photo of actor Faran Tahir taken by Phil Konstantin in San Diego, California on May 30, 2008.](https://film.one/media/person/100122/gallery-5d2f8b19b892.jpg) A photo of actor Faran Tahir taken by Phil Konstantin in San Diego, California on May 30, 2008. — Phil Konstantin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/FaranTahirByPhilKonstantin2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Close-up portrait photograph of actor Faran Tahir, facing right, by the US State Department in an article about his career. (2016)](https://film.one/media/person/100122/gallery-9c1278ab4a8e.jpg) Close-up portrait photograph of actor Faran Tahir, facing right, by the US State Department in an article about his career. (2016) — D.A. Peterson for the State Department, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Faran_Tahir%2C_close-up_portrait%2C_facing_right_%282016%29.jpg/1280px-Faran_Tahir%2C_close-up_portrait%2C_facing_right_%282016%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Faran Tahir speaking at the 2024 WonderCon in Anaheim, California.](https://film.one/media/person/100122/gallery-a31f332d89b4.jpg) Faran Tahir speaking at the 2024 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Faran_Tahir_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/1280px-Faran_Tahir_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Faran Tahir](https://film.one/media/person/100122/gallery-ee5240cfcc88.jpg) Faran Tahir — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/faran-tahir