David Dastmalchian

David Dastmalchian
Dastmalchian at the 2023 WonderCon
Born	(1975-07-21) July 21, 1975 Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	DePaul University (BFA)
Occupation(s)	Actor Comic book writer
Years active	2002–present
Spouse	Eve Leigh ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2

David Dastmalchian (/dəsˈmɔːltʃən/; born July 21, 1975) is an American film and stage actor. He has had supporting roles in a number of superhero franchises; he portrayed Thomas Schiff in The Dark Knight (2008), Kurt and Veb in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Abra Kadabra in The CW's The Flash, and Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad (2021). He has also appeared in three of Denis Villeneuve's films: Prisoners (2013), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and Dune (2021). Dastmalchian wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical film Animals (2014).

Early life and career

David Dastmalchian was born on July 21, 1975, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Priscilla (née Doran; 1941–2020) and Hossein Dastmalchian (1937–2021), an Iranian-American engineer who worked at engineering firm Black & Veatch. He has two sisters and a brother. His parents divorced, which he described as "tumultuous", and both remarried. He was raised in Overland Park, Kansas, where he attended Shawnee Mission South High School, becoming part of the drama club. He described growing up in the Kansas City metropolitan area as "very traditional in one sense, and a conservative community that also had a rad, fringe, artistic, progressive tribe of people who were finding connectivity through the arts and the culture of KC and the surrounding suburbs."

In his childhood, Dastmalchian developed vitiligo, for which he suffered ridicule from his peers. Consequently, he experienced depression throughout his childhood. Growing up, he enjoyed football, theater, and comics. He would mow lawns, saving money to buy comics. He studied at The Theatre School at DePaul University and graduated in 1999. Prior to beginning his career as an actor, he dealt with a heroin addiction for five years. He wrote about his experiences in his screenplay, Animals, and continues to advocate for mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. Shortly after becoming sober, he worked at a seafood restaurant in Kansas City. He was also briefly a fisherman in Alaska.

Career

Dastmalchian began his professional career in the mid-2000s in Chicago, working on stage and in commercials. He has received acclaim for lead roles in Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie and Sam Shepard's Buried Child at Chicago's Shattered Globe Theatre. He was involved with a number of Chicago theater companies and was an artistic associate at Caffeine Theatre.

His feature film debut came in the late 2000s, as the Joker's deranged henchman, Thomas Schiff, in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight. His portrayal of Bob Taylor in Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners received strong reviews. Richard Corliss of Time called Dastmalchian's performance "excellent – chatty, modest with some subtle telltale psychopathy" and The Guardian's Paul MacInnes likened his introduction as a new suspect to Kevin Spacey's entrance in Seven.

In March 2014, Dastmalchian was awarded the Special Jury Prize for Courage in Storytelling at the South by Southwest Film Festival. He wrote and starred in the feature film Animals, directed by Collin Schiffli. Ashley Moreno of The Austin Chronicle credits Dastmalchian's screenplay with "present[ing] an authenticity often lacking in films about drug abuse."Film Threat's Brian Tallerico similarly sings the praises of Dastmalchian's breakout performance, noting his ability to "capture that sense of self-loathing that comes through in the body language of an addict without overselling it."

Other feature film appearances include starring roles in the psychological thriller The Employer, the indie grindhouse hit Sushi Girl, the drama Cass (winner, San Diego Black Film Festival), Girls Will Be Girls 2012 (a sequel to the 2003 cult hit Girls Will Be Girls), Saving Lincoln, Virgin Alexander, Ant-Man, and Michel Franco's Chronic.

He has also appeared on television: as Simon on the Fox sci-fi series Almost Human, in the episode "Simon Says"; as a chess expert and murder suspect on the CBS forensics procedural drama series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; and as Oz Turner on the BBC drama series Intruders. Other television appearances include the FX sitcom The League, the Showtime crime drama series Ray Donovan, and NBC's medical drama ER.

Dastmalchian portrayed DC Comics villain Abra Kadabra in seasons 3 and 7 of The Flash.

In 2017 he reunited with Denis Villeneuve when he appeared in Blade Runner 2049. The following year he reprised the role of Kurt in the Ant-Man sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. In 2021 he appeared as Polka-Dot Man in The Suicide Squad, a character with whom he said he connected on a personal level due to the childhood bullying he suffered as a result of his vitiligo. Later that same year he appeared in his third Denis Villeneuve film when he portrayed Piter De Vries in Dune.

Dastmalchian is a comic book writer. He debuted his horror comic series Count Crowley in 2019 published by Dark Horse Comics.

Personal life

Dastmalchian married artist Evelyn "Eve" Leigh in 2014. They live in Los Angeles with their two children.

Filmography

Key

Denotes productions that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	The Dark Knight	Thomas Schiff
2009	Horsemen	Terrence
2012	Say When	Damon
	Cass	Joshua Whitmore
	Virgin Alexander	Hank
	Sushi Girl	Nelson
	Singled Out	Luke
2013	Saving Lincoln	Major Eckert
	The Employer	James Harris
	Prisoners	Bob Taylor
2014	Animals	Jude	Also writer and producer SXSW Film Festival – Special Jury Prize Winner
	Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie	Sergeant L. J. Ng
2015	Chronic	Bernard
	Ant-Man	Kurt
2017	The Belko Experiment	Lonny
	Blade Runner 2049	Coco
2018	Ant-Man and the Wasp	Kurt
	Bird Box	Whistling Marauder
	A Million Little Pieces	Roy
	The Domestics	Willy Cunningham
	Relaxer	Cam
	All Creatures Here Below	Gensan	Also writer
2019	Teacher	James Lewis
	Madness in the Method	The Witness
	Jay and Silent Bob Reboot	SWAT officer	Cameo
2021	Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One	Julian Day / Calendar Man	Voice role Direct-to-DVD
	The Suicide Squad	Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man
	Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two	Julian Day / Calendar Man Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin	Voice role Direct-to-DVD
	Dune	Piter De Vries
2022	Weird: The Al Yankovic Story	John Deacon	Cameo
2023	Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania	Veb
	Late Night with the Devil	Jack Delroy	Also producer
	Boston Strangler	Albert DeSalvo
	The Boogeyman	Lester	Completed
	Oppenheimer	TBA	Post-production
	The Last Voyage of the Demeter	Wojchek	Post-production

Television

Music videos

Theatre

External links

• David Dastmalchian at IMDb