Movies

David Dastmalchian (/dɔːstmɔːltʃən/; 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 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.