Raised in Northern California, Alex Dodd Afshar (based on his real first name pronounced Ali Dodd) grew up in the green Sonoma Mountains of Petaluma, California. Racing motorcycles and horses at the age of 5 on his family’s 200—acre ranch, his passion for speed and entertaining was already evident. The son of Alex and Leila Afshar, he is the youngest of 3 brothers. His father is an international agricultural business man and his mother was a world renowned Persian poet and lyricist before her passing in 1989. In addition to his parents influence Alex experienced a vast variety of life experiences learning from his two older brothers Pasha and Jonny. He grew up competing in Break-Dancing & Bicycle Freestyle events all over Northern California. Once he tasted freedom with his drivers license at age 16, Alex won his first High School Challenge for drag racing at Sears Point International Raceway, representing Casa Grande High School. Thru high school, Alex could be found almost every week at the Sears Point Raceway competing in the Wednesday Night Drags, racing his classic 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. If he wasn’t racing he was in wrestling practice honing his skills. Alex was an outstanding wrestler and set numerous school records and was a California State Finalist in 1991.
After high school, Alex turned his attention to his dream of acting and relocated to Los Angeles. While fulfilling his parents wishes of studying medicine at California State University Northridge, he was also pursuing a career in acting for movies and television. Alex immediately started learning from some of the most talented teachers available in Los Angeles and started auditioning. He landed his first job as a skateboarder in a Pepsi/Mirinda soft drink commercial that primarily aired in Europe. Alex then was the principle actor in a commercial for the Southern California family water park "Raging Waters". While pursuing his acting career, Alex also founded Easy Street Motorsports (also known as ESX). An automotive performance and race facility that eventually lead him to race for Subaru of America for over 7 years and achieve a certain celebrity racing status. ESX became a 2 Time NHRA National & World Champion, 18 Time NHRA event champion, Rally America Champion and a world record holder! (visit ESXmotorsports.com for additional info). Alex paired his acting and racing income to pay for his tuition for college which ultimately led to his graduation from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology. However, his true desires led him away from medicine and towards Hollywood.
Alex landed his first television role, as a very fitting mechanic-racer named "Grease" on the NBC show "Saved By The Bell". He then started working on a string of feature films such as “Three Kings”, “Godzilla”, HBO's "Guardian" and “The Siege”. Alex got his first taste of working with great talent on these projects that included award winning directors and actors!
While most of his feature film projects were dramatic roles Alex started showing his comedic funny bone on the small screen and landed the reoccurring role of "Sanjib" on the CBS hit show “The King Of Queens”. He kept the smiles going as he worked on another CBS show "City Guys", the singing foreign exchange student "Bjorgy" on the FOX children show "The Masked Rider" and the very funny "Jamie Kennedy Experiment".
While he was doing all the "On Camera" work, Alex also enjoyed a voice over gig that spanned over 2 years as the voice of the "Phantom Ranger" on the hit FOX/Saban children TV show "Power Rangers".
The laughter suddenly became silent when Alex returned to his dramatic strengths and landed a 4 episode arc on the CBS show "JAG". He continued in his serious ways and worked on the two more CBS shows, "Navy NCIS" and "The Agency". He also booked guest spots on the PAX Network show "It's A Miracle" as well the FOX show "Americas Most Wanted" which led him right back to CBS where he landed his first leading role opposite Chuck Norris in the CBS Movie of the Week "The Presidents Man: A Line in the Sand". He quickly followed his leading role and booked another dramatic supporting role on an NBC Movie of the Week titled "Homeland Security".
Alex took a hiatus from his acting career at the end of 2004 thru 2006 while his race car driving talents had him traveling across the nation for Subaru of America and ESX Motorsports. After a few years of full time racing, records and national championships had been scribed into the history books, Alex turned his full attention back to his acting career.
In 2007 Alex signed with the management team "IAG" (Impact Artists Group), theatrical agency "A.K.A." and commercial agency "Reign".
Alex produced and starred in his first pilot presentation titled "The California's" in February 2007. A post apocalyptic feature based on a terrorist attacked California. A "Sci-Fi" story that can be best described as "The Transporter" meets "Mad Max" with a touch of "Fast and the Furious"! The California's trailer can bee seen on youtube.com at the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qlmOh34-q4
Landing his first role back from his racing "Hiatus", Alex can be seen in a supporting role in the feature film "He's Just Not That Into You", based on the best selling book. Alex is playing the character of "Skip" along side a star studded cast including Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connolly, Ben Affleck, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly & more! This movie is directed by Emmy Nominated Director Ken Kwapis and is due to hit theatres in 2008!
In early 2008 Alex was cast and played one of the lead roles as the serious "Tribunal Head" in the hilarious political series "Fun With War Crimes". Sneak-a-peak now at the trailer for the funniest political series on Series Launch: FunWithWarCrimes.com, YouTube and online everywhere, May 1.
In March, 2008 Alex finished shooting a national Mercedes Benz commercial for the new 2008 "C-Class" titled "Projections" directed by Adam Berg.
In August, 2008 Alex was cast in a new web pilot/series titled "Girls Gone College" directed by "Ellen Sandler" (Writer/Producer of Everybody Loves Raymond)
Also in August, 2008 Alex was cast and shot a new "Blue Shield of California" insurance commercial all around the streets of Southern California!
Stay tuned for more exciting information by regularly visiting the following websites!
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