Cas Anvar is a Canadian actor and voice actor. He currently plays Alex Kamal in the television series The Expanse, a futuristic sci-fi production.

CAS ANVAR BIO: EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION

Anvar, an Iranian-Canadian, was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada but raised in Montreal, Quebec. He graduated from Beaconsfield High School and later graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1989 to jumpstart his acting career. His Iranian first name is actually spelled as Kasra.

CAS ANVAR BIO: CAREER, RECOGNITION

Anvar first began acting in high school when his teacher threatened to fail him if he didn’t audition for the school’s play Hamlet, for which he landed the lead role.

Also, Anvar is the founding artistic director of Repercussion Theatre, a Montreal-based Shakespeare-in-the-Park touring company. Its first performance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was in 1988.

Anvar’s big break came in the 2003 film Shattered Glass, which starred Hayden Christiansen, Peter Sarsgaard and Chloe Sevigny. Shattered Glass went on to be nominated for four Spirit Awards and a Golden Globe.

Anvar has starred in movies with Hollywood’s biggest names including Ben Affleck in Oscar-winning Argo, Naomi Watts in biopic Diana, Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal (with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones), New Girls‘ Hannah Simone in comedy Miss India America and others.

He has been nominated for two ACTRA awards, two Gemini awards and a JUTRA for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Seducing Maarya. Anvar won the SAG award for Best Ensemble Cast for his role in Argo. 

Additionally, Anvar has made guest appearances on television shows including CBS’s NCIS: LA, USA network’s In Plain Sight, ABC’s Boston Legal, ABC’s Castle, CBS’s Intelligence, and hit series 24. He also starred on ten episodes of The Strain as Sanjay Desai for the 2016-17 season.

Anvar has also done voice work in some of the most popular video games. In 2011, he was the voice of the main character Altaïr ibn-La’Ahad in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations. Later in 2012, Anvar performed a voice role in Call of Duty: Black Ops II as Mullah Rahmaan. In the same year, he was the voice of Dalton in Halo 4. 

In 2017, he starred in episodes ten and eleven of Star Trek Continues, a fan-created web series produced by Trek Continues, Inc. and Dracogen.

CAS ANVAR BIO: INTERVIEW ON ‘THE EXPANSE’

Anvar described Syfy’s show The Expanse as a “fusion between Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner and Alien.” The TV series depicts what it might be like if Earth were to colonize other parts of the solar system, whilst on the brink of interstellar war.

On reflecting working with co-star Thomas Jane of The Punisher, Anvar said Jane’s frequent improvisation keeps him on his toes.

“He doesn’t like to rehearse in the same way that you might be used to, you really never know what he’s gonna give you. He’s completely in the moment, he’s completely organic, he will improvise like crazy, and he’s given free rein to do that because he’s really good at it,” Anvar said. “So, you always have to be completely present and aware and on your game because he’ll throw something at you.”

The Expanse is filmed on an 80,000-square-foot set in Toronto, of which Anvar was surprised and pleased by.

“The ship that I fly, the Rocinante, we have all three stages of it, all three levels of it. You could literally shoot us coming out from the galley or our quarters going up the stairs into the main deck, and then up the stairs up to my flight deck where I pilot, all in one take — if you had the desire,” Anvar said. “It would give you an incredible feeling of scope, and for an actor that’s a playground; to be given everything to work with rather than having to imagine it is really a luxury and we were afforded that luxury.”

CAS ANVAR BIO: PERSONAL LIFE, GIRLFRIEND, NET WORTH, SOCIAL MEDIA, QUOTES

Anvar is fluent in English, French and Farsi with sparse Arabic, Hindi and Spanish. He can perform using an array of accents including that of the Middle East, India, Britain, France, Italy, Russia and Hispanic countries. His on-screen skills are comprised of scuba diving, horseback riding, sword fighting, stage combat, martial arts, gymnastics and all sports.

Anvar has not publicly presented himself with a girlfriend, so the actor may or may not be single. He’s maintained a low-key image, keeping his personal life away from the public eye for the most part. His net worth is estimated to be about $65 million. Anvar celebrates his birthday on March 15; however, it remains unclear how old he is.

When he’s not performing, Anvar likes to go paintballing. His team is named “The Suave Bastards,” who play in their custom-made tank “The Mighty Bastard.”

Quotes:

“It’s an actor’s meal ticket to be able to play any role. I make my living by creating a world of illusion, an imaginary place where people can forget their own lives for a little while. That means I have to be ready to be any character, from any place. Ben Kingsley’s Indian heritage is negligible at best but who doesn’t think of Gandhi when they think of him? That is what acting is all about — being something more, something different than what we really are.”

“In all honesty I need to ask myself: if the climate in the arts was not moving towards favoring Middle Eastern artists, would I be shouting it from the highest hill? Probably not. It does not serve me or what I am trying to do in my life. It is neither my priority nor my passion.”

“I am an artist first and foremost. I am also a Canadian citizen of Iranian background. But my passions and opinions are not rooted in culture nor partisan politics but rather in issues of the human condition.”

Anvar is on Instagram and Twitter as @Casanvar.Ca

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