Zakaria Sherif Zaki (born January 18, 1990), commonly known as Zeeko Zaki ( arz, زيكو زكي), is an Egyptian-born American actor best known for his role portraying Special Agent Omar Adom "O. A." Zidan on

Dick Wolf Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four international spinoffs. He is al ...

's ''

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

''.

Early life

Zaki was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, and emigrated with his parents Emon and Sherif Zaki to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at one month of age. Zaki's maternal grandparents emigrated to the US before he and his parents arrived. His extended family remained in Egypt. During his childhood Zaki spent summers in his hometown and his aunt has a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

in Agami Region where he and his relatives gather. He grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania. His mother manages a salon in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

and his father is a stylist. Zaki has two younger siblings, a brother, Zeyad and a sister, Zeina.

Career

He discovered a passion for acting during his freshman year high school performance of ''

Seussical ''Seussical'' is a musical comedy by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, based on the many children's stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of its plot being based on ''Horton Hears a Who!'', '' Gertrude McFuzz'', and ''Horton Hatches the Egg'' while in ...

'' at Unionville High School; he graduated from Unionville High School. He also acted in the community theatre group Unionville Players. He briefly attended

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

. In 2010 Zaki moved to North Carolina working in theater before auditioning for television roles. He appeared in bit part roles in various films and television series before landing recurring roles in ''

Six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

'' and '' 24: Legacy'', portraying antagonists, and in ''

Valor Valor, valour, or valorous may mean: * Courage, a similar meaning * Virtue ethics, roughly "courage in defense of a noble cause" Entertainment * Valor (band), a Christian gospel music group * Valor Kand, a member of the band Christian Death * ' ...

'', in which he portrayed a door gunner of a U.S. Army special operations aviation unit. Zaki was cast in his first lead role playing Agent Zidan in

's procedural show ''

''. The role was originally written for a Latino actor but Wolf was impressed by Zaki's audition tape and changed the character's ethnicity to mirror Zaki's background. Zaki said that he wants to prove to the world that

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

aren't

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

as is commonly believed.

Personal life

Zaki is a Muslim and he spoke

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...

at home until the age of six.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaki, Zeeko People from Alexandria Egyptian male television actors 1990 births American male television actors Living people Temple University alumni American male actors American Muslims Egyptian emigrants to the United States American people of Egyptian descent