Samir began taking classes with CADA when we were at the Balch Street Theatre and he was the first company member to walk through the door at the Blue Box Theatre. He has done Shakespeare, having played Macbeth and Bottom; he has been Piglet and an opera clown, and he was the only cast member of Along the Graveyard Path to be in both companies. He is also a writer: Mario's New Friend, was picked to be our first Zoom play, and The Bookstore of Doom will be performed during our One-Act Play Festival!
Samir says: "I will continue to write scripts. I want to explore new ideas for scripts so that I can grow my audience! I will always return to my favorite themes and characters because friendship is a powerful message."
One of Samir's earliest memories is of watching the movie Winnie the Pooh and loving the friendship between Pooh and Piglet. His first time on stage was at a third-grade holiday concert: "At the end... a big crowd cheered! I felt happiness! I felt love! I knew I wanted to do this again!" But seeing Bruce Almighty made him want to be a movie star. "I liked Morgan Freeman's voice."
In grade school, Samir started attending Rotary Camp, where he discovered a love of drawing and making things, campfire songs and horseback riding. (He even reunited with some of his camp friends at CADA years later!) At 15, Samir started his acting career at the Salvation Army in the Christmas pageant: this was his first opportunity to play a piglet, basing his performance on the one from the stories of Christopher Robin and his friends, who was "shy and brave." Samir graduated from Garfield High School in 2014, moving onto the Steel Drum Academy and then Echoing University. He joined choir and found an interest in science. "Science fiction is something I really enjoy writing."
His mother would often take him to see shows at Playhouse Square, including Motown: The Musical and Hair! "We can learn a lot about ourselves and our history by going to the theatre." Samir concludes, "I will become a movie star, writer, director, and producer. I will work hard to get cast in a show. I will follow the script. I will listen to my acting coaches."
