American actress Sarah Shahi

Aahoo Jahansouz "Sarah" Shahi(Persian: آهو جهانسوز شاهی‎) (born January 10, 1980) is an American-born actress of Spanish and Iranian descent.A former NFL Cheerleader, Shahi was named #90 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list; she moved up to #66 in 2006. She also ranked Rank No. 5 on the AfterEllen.com hot list in 2007.She is probably best known for starring in The L Word as Carmen de la Pica Morales and Life as Detective Dani Reese. She is currently starring as Kate Reed in the 2011 legal drama Fairly Legal on the USA Network.Sarah Shahi was born and grew up in Euless, Texas, to an Iranian father, Abbas Shahi, and a Mexican mother, known as Mahmonir.She has an older brother, Cyrus, and a younger sister Samantha. She is a great-great-granddaughter of the 19th century Iranian king Fath Ali Shah Qajar. Sarah's family was forced to leave their homeland two years before due to the political and social unrest caused by the Islamic Revolution. Her birthname, Aahoo, means "gazelle" in Farsi.On her name change, Shahi changed her name from Aahoo to Sarah when she was in second grade because, "I got tormented," she remembers. "Kids were calling me 'Yahoo,' 'Awahoo' and 'Achoo.' I wanted to be Vicky from Small Wonder (TV series), but my mom didn't like that name. We were listening to the radio. The song Sarah was on, and she said, 'What about Sarah?' I said, 'Fine. I'll take it. Anything other than Aahoo.'"
She grew up speaking Persian as well as English at her father’s insistence. She said she never had much contact with the extended families of her immigrant parents, but “I like to celebrate where I come from and where my heritage lies,” she said. Her parents entered her in many beauty pageants, she's been in front of an audiences ever since she was age 8.[8] Her parents divorced when she was 10.
Shahi attended Trinity High School, where she was captain of the volleyball and basketball teams, and Dallas' Southern Methodist University, majoring in English and Theater. She was a beauty queen during her teen years, winning the Miss Fort Worth USA pageant in 1997. Hoping to become an actress, Shahi joined the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 1999–2000 squad despite not having cheered before, and appeared on the cover of the squad's 2000 calendar before moving to Los Angeles.While working as an extra on the set of Dr. T and the Women in Texas, she met director Robert Altman, who encouraged her to move to Hollywood.where she picked up parts in several series, including Alias, Dawson's Creek, Reba, and Supernatural. She may be best-known for her role as the Mexican-American DJ Carmen de la Pica Morales on The L Word, which she joined in its second season. Shahi did not renew her contract with the series for the fourth season, and consequently her character was written out.She also played Farah in the second season of Sleeper Cell, and also appeared in HBO's The Sopranos, in the Season 6b episode "Kennedy and Heidi".
She co-starred in the short-lived NBC series Life as homicide detective Dani Reese.
In October 2009, Shahi landed the lead role in the USA Network pilot, Facing Kate. Shahi began filming in November 2009. On March 15, 2010, it was announced that USA Network had ordered eleven more episodes of the series. The show will follow the life of Kate Reed, a top litigator who is frustrated with the bureaucracy and injustice she witnesses in legal system. The series title was later changed to Fairly Legal. The series began airing on USA in January 2011.
On February 3, 2010, Shahi appeared on an episode ("Thrill Seekers and Hell Raisers") of Psych, playing Burton Guster's new girlfriend. Her husband Steve Howey also guest-starred in the same episode.
Shahi is currently working on Untitled Beatle Boyin Project as "Carla". She also will be playing "Hattie Skunk/Hattie Rockworth", a leading role in the upcoming film East Fifth Bliss.