Toronto, Canada – Parham Rownaghi is a Persian-Canadian actor and producer with a passion for portraying characters of different nationalities and accents. He is known for his naturalistic, chameleonic method acting ability and universally ethnic look. Parham is a versatile actor who can play various roles such as the “good guy,” the “bad guy,” the character actor, and the lead.
Parham’s breakthrough role was playing Saad Al’Maliki in Netflix’s Degrassi: The Next Class. He also played Sunil Banerjee in Murdoch Mysteries, Charlie in Mary Kills People, and Ted, the AI robot with a British accent in Max vs The Metaverse, found on Amazon Prime and Ryan and Friends. Parham is expected to star in an upcoming feature film that has received funding from Telefilm’s “Talent to Watch ” program, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Toronto Arts Council. The film is centered around a life-changing event that impacts a Persian family’s future.
Parham trained at the Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles under full scholarship and the guidance of David Strasberg, son of legendary method acting pioneer Lee Strasberg. He has also ventured into producing and was an assistant producer in two Los-Angeles based short films. Parham sees a big future in terms of producing.
Parham’s brand highlights include two Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Children’s/Youth Television Program for Degrassi: The Next Class in 2017 and 2018. He hopes to win a major Hollywood award for a leading role in the future.
Growing up with immigrant parents, Parham faced the challenge of making acting a serious life aspiration. It was difficult to make his dream a reality, especially when no one knew where to begin. He started his acting career at 16, struggled under a poor agency, and only found one background role until he joined the Characters Agency at age 18. In mid 2016, he was cast as a series regular for Netflix’s Degrassi, and that was when people took his aspirations and capabilities seriously.
Parham’s wisdom and unique insight include the importance of persistence, hard work, high standards, and realizing that failure breeds success. Sometimes, a change of perspective is needed to reignite one’s passion for their craft.
Parham’s ultimate dream is to win a major Hollywood award for a leading role and represent his country of Iran. He wants to change how Iran is viewed in western civilization and promote more international work to bring these forms of storytelling to the mainstream. Parham is a person of color who can relate to the people of the stories he tells, and he wants to represent minorities in the Hollywood scene.
In Parham’s newest role, he plays the A.I. hologram, Ted, who guides Max through his metaverse adventures on Max vs the Metaverse airing on Amazon Prime’s Ryan and Friends channel. His naturalistic method acting ability, and ability to play characters from different backgrounds makes him stand out in an entertainment industry moving towards added diversity. With his ability for depicting vastly different and complex characters, Parham is one to look out for in the near future.
