Persian Teen Scientologist Is Cast on 90210 Spinoff
TV Guide
22-May-2008 (3 comments)

Michael Steger has joined the cast of the CW's Beverly Hills, 90210 spinoff. He'll play Navid, a student of Persian descent and the producer of West Beverly Hills High School's TV newscasts.

Steger's character, who spins around town in his convertible Cadillac, is also a Scientologist who drinks non-alcoholic wine to fit in with the partying crowd.

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barefoot

Iranian character gets new zip code

by barefoot on Thu May 22, 2008 11:52 AM PDT

I remember watching the original '90210' as a teen. I never thought there'd be an Iranian character on a show like that, despite what I had heard about the demographic make-up of Beverly Hills. It's interesting to hear that the new version of the show features an Iranian character. I imagine people on this site will argue about things like the actor not being Iranian, the character being a Scientologist, his being called Persian vs. Iranian, etc, etc. Nonetheless, it's interesting to see Iranian characters popping up here and there on TV.



Balatarin
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Niki Tehranchi

I was a big fan

by Niki Tehranchi on Thu May 22, 2008 01:08 PM PDT

of the original in my teens and it occurred to me and my friends why there were no Iranian character. I mean for Pete's sake, Tori Spelling's best friend growing up in Beverly Hills was (and still is) Iranian, Mehran something or other. A character based on him was featured on her hilarious sitcom No-Tori-ous with an episode centering around him and his dog-hating parents :) Not to be confused with her current boring reality show.

I blogged about the new 90210 spin off on this site a few months back. I don't think you have to be Iranian to play an Iranian character. Just like you don't have to be smart to play smart (See Denise Richards as a nuclear scientist in a James Bond film)or gay to play gay (See Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain).

I have to say though it would have been nice to see an Iranian actor. We have so few of them on American TV! Maz Jobrani and Omid Djalili had roles in sitcoms that were too short-lived. Sarah Shahi plays a very well written character on the cop show Life right now (when will it be back?) And I am glad they wrote her as Iranian and not Latina or Native American or any other more "common" ethnicity.

Obviously this 90210 series is shlock only good for tweens but I will be curious to tune in at least at the beginning just to see how they handle the Navid Shirazi character. Interesting choice on the religion though hehe...


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Nice

by still a teenager at heart (not verified) on Thu May 22, 2008 01:00 PM PDT

at least he's cute with no rish o pashm
:-)


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