Aahoo Jahansouz "Sarah" Shahi (Persian: آهو جهانسوز سارا شاهی, born January 10, 1980 in Euless, Texas) is an American television actress and former NFL Cheerleader of Iranian and Spanish descent.
She's perhaps best-known for her scene-stealing roles in Person of Interest and The L Word, both shows which resulted in her being upgraded from a guest star to a regular. She also played the lead in Fairly Legal as Kate Reed, and has had many notable supporting roles in Film and Television.
She was married to fellow actor Steve Howey, and they have a son named William Wolf Howey, born in 2009 (necessitating her pregnancy being hidden on Life's second season) and twins Violet and Knox, born in March 2015. She and Howie filed for divorce in May 2020. Their divorce was finalized in January 2021. As of 2021, she is dating her costar on Sex/Life, Adam Demos.
Tropes
- Actor-Shared Background: Sarah is the child of an Iranian father and Spanish mother. In three roles so far her character's stated to be half-Iranian (though in both cases it's on her mother's side instead, explaining their Western last names). They all also speak Farsi, like her.
- In Person of Interest she played Sameen Shaw who, like Shahi, also has the initials S.S. Her frequent use of football metaphors ("I know this went sideways, Finch, but you can't bench me for every mistake." "You go through identities like they're Dixie Cups, but I'm one and done?") are a reference to her former career as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
- Dani Reese in Life.
- Billie in Sex/Life turns out to be half-Persian on her dad's side.
- Alliterative Name: Sarah Shahi. Further, she played Sameen Shaw on Person of Interest as well.
- The Cast Showoff:
- An episode of Life makes good use of her fluency in Farsi when her character speaks to a mother and daughter who are Persians.
- An episode of Person of Interest has her speaking to a cab driver in Farsi.
- Casting Gag: Twice during Reba Cheyenne and Van's marriage was tested by another woman. The first time was Kate, a business associate of Van's that Cheyenne was insanely jealous of. The second was a woman named Bridgit, who was a former classmate of theirs (and enemy of Cheyenne) who made a pass at Van to torment Cheyenne. Both characters were played by Shahi, who became Steve Howey's (Van's actor) wife (although they were only dating/engaged at the time, and have since divorced).
- Embarrassing First Name: She changed her name from "Aahoo" to "Sarah" as a child to avoid being teased; "Aahoo" sounds a little too much like a sneeze.
- Fair Cop: On Life she played Detective Dani Reese of the LAPD. Later on The Rookie she played FBI Agent Jessica Russo.
- Hello, Attorney!: As Kate Reed in Fairly Legal and Renee Royce in Chicago Fire.
- Hide Your Pregnancy / Real Life Writes the Plot:
- She was pregnant during the last episodes of season two's Life, so she was quickly written into a storyline of being interviewed by the FBI and wasn't shown standing up for the rest of the season.
- It happened again on Person of Interest, after she wound up pregnant with twins during the fourth season; there was a lot of sitting down and standing behind counters. When standing, she was mostly framed from the chest up and wore a lot of black outfits with coats over them when they had to do full body shots.note She was written out of the show midway through the season with her character's fate left deliberately ambiguous to allow them to bring her back later, and she returned the following season. Shahi told interviewers they considered simply writing it into the series, though since Shaw's very far from the maternal type this didn't go through.
- Ms. Fanservice: Shahi was once a member of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleadersnote , has won numerous beauty competitions, was Miss Fort Worth USA, is frequently ranked as one of the most gorgeous women in the world, and willingly will show nudity. Thus she's played many examples with varying degrees of nudity, sex scenes, skimpy clothes and suggestiveness (see e.g. The L Word, Life, Fairly Legal, Person of Interest, Sex/Life).
- Romance on the Set: Shahi began dating her costar on Sex/Life, Adam Demos, during filming.
Selected Filmography
Film Roles
- 2003 – Old School as Erica
- 2003 – Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde as Becky, Delta Nu sister
- 2005 – A Lot Like Love as Starlet
- 2006 – For Your Consideration as Sanchez
- 2007 – Rush Hour 3 as Zoe
- 2012 – Static as Adele Dade
- 2012 – Bullet to the Head as Lisa Bonomo
- 2015 – Divine Access as Marian
- 2022 - Black Adam as Adrianna Tomaz / Isis
- 2023 - Red, White & Royal Blue as Zahra Bankston
Television Roles
- 2000 - City Guys as Cheerleader
- 2000 - Spin City as Bachelorette
- 2001 - Boston Public as Laura
- 2001 - Off Centre as Angelica
- 2001–2002 – Alias as Jenny
- 2003 – Dawson's Creek as Sadie Shaw
- 2003 - ER as Tara King
- 2004, 2007 - Reba as Kate / Bridget
- 2005 - Supernatural as Constance Welch / The Woman in White
- 2005–2009 – The L Word as Carmen de la Pica Morales
- 2006 - Teachers as Tina Torres
- 2006 - Sleeper Cell as Farrah
- 2007 - The Sopranos as Sonya Aragon
- 2007-2009 – Life as Dani Reese
- 2010 – Psych as Ruby
- 2011-2012 – Fairly Legal as Kate Reed
- 2011 - Young Justice as Killer Frost (voice)
- 2012-2013 – Chicago Fire as Renee Royce
- 2013-2016 - Person of Interest as Sameen Shaw
- 2015 - Ray Donovan as Hasmig
- 2016 - Pitch as Natalie Luongo
- 2018 - Reverie as Mara Kint
- 2019 - The Rookie (2018) as Jessica Russo
- 2019 - City on a Hill as Rachel Benham
- 2021 - Sex/Life as Billie Connelly
