Career

One of Sleiman's first roles was in the 2004 African-American gay comedy film The Ski Trip

The Ski Trip

The Ski Trip is a 2004 LGBT independent romantic comedy movie written and directed by openly gay entertainer Maurice Jamal. It stars Maurice Jamal, Daren Fleming, Cassandra Cruz, Haaz Sleiman, Emanuel Xavier and Nathan Hale. It was rated R by the MPAA for sexual content and language...

. He co-starred as undocumented Syrian immigrant Tarek in the critically acclaimed 2008 independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 The Visitor

The Visitor (2008 film)

The Visitor is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy and produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski. Executive producers were Jeff Skoll and Omar Amanat...

, a drama nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar, directed by Thomas McCarthy

Thomas McCarthy (actor)

Thomas Joseph McCarthy is an American actor, writer, and film director who has appeared in several movies, including Meet the Parents and Good Night, and Good Luck, and television shows such as The Wire, Boston Public, Law & Order, and the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Saint Maybe...

. Sleiman also had small roles in the 2006 film American Dreamz

American Dreamz

American Dreamz is a 2006 comedy/parody film that satirizes both American politics and popular entertainment.Director/producer/writer Paul Weitz has stated that the movie is meant to satirize both the TV show American Idol and the Bush Administration...

and the 2007 film AmericanEast

AmericanEast

AmericanEast is a 2007 American drama film about Arab-Americans living in Post-9/11 Los Angeles. The story examines long-held misunderstandings about Arabic and Islamic culture, and puts a human face on a segment of the U.S. population whom most Americans know nothing about, but who today are of...

.

In 2006 Sleiman portrayed an American soldier in Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 series ER

ER (TV series)

ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...

, and that same year had a recurring role as an Arab billionaire in the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 series "Company Town". He portrayed the terrorist suspect Heydar in three 2007 episodes of the FOX

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 series 24, and appeared on both NCIS

NCIS (TV series)

NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

and Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...

in 2007.

Sleiman played gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 nurse Mohammed "Mo-Mo" De La Cruz in the first season of the Showtime dark comedy

Black comedy

A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...

 series Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie

Nurse Jackie is an American series that premiered on June 8, 2009, on Showtime, Movie Central and The Movie Network.The series stars Edie Falco as the title character Jackie Peyton, an emergency room nurse at All Saints' Hospital in New York City...

, which premiered in June 2009.

In 2011, Sleiman played the role of Omar, a Palestinian activist, in the Channel 4

Channel 4

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 mini-series The Promise.

Haaz also played the role of Kasim Tariq in the CW Network TV show Nikita

Nikita (TV series)

La Femme Nikita is a Canadian action/drama television series based on the French film Nikita by Luc Besson. The series was co-produced by Jay Firestone of Fireworks Entertainment and Warner Brothers. It was adapted for television by Joel Surnow...

, appearing in two episodes.

External links