Soccer injury in high school leads to acting career

JONESBORO, Ark.—Donnie Keshawarz was a soccer addict when he was a student at Jonesboro High School.

“I hurt my knee one season on the field, so I knew I wasn’t going to be able to play,” he told The Jonesboro Sun.

His injury would lead Keshawarz to another passion—

He was cast in the school’s production of Neil Simon’s “God’s Favorite.”

“I just got bit by the bug,” he said. “I experienced the same charge on stage as I did from soccer, the same adrenaline rush.”

That first experience on stage has led the 1987 JHS graduate down a path that has included Broadway and off-Broadway productions, as well as numerous roles in television and film.

Keshawarz, who moved to Jonesboro when he was 10, studied theater at Arkansas State University, before moving to New York City to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Once he completed the AADA two-year program, he “hit the pavement and tried to become an actor.”

“I couldn’t get cast in anything. I kept trying to make it and wasn’t having any success,” he said.

Keshawarz decided to finish his bachelor’s degree at Rutgers University, then headed back to New York City to try his hand at acting. And again, he didn’t have much success.

“I always ended up going back to school by default. I did it once again. I got a master’s degree at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. That’s when I finally was able to not have a career as a student,” he said. “After my third year there, our class went to New York and had a showcase. I got my first agent, then got my first manager a year after that. That was really where I finally got my business foot in the door.”

Business is the second side of acting, according to Keshawarz.

“The first is figuring out the craft, then it’s figuring out how to make this business thing work,” he said. “It was a good 10- to 12-year pursuit to get my foot in the business door. From there it was another five years before things started happening.”

Keshawarz said it is hard to define what was his big break in show business.

“I feel like mine was a series of little ones. I look at stuff from an artistic perspective first. I did stuff years ago in my 20s I considered my big break because they were being able to play challenging roles and do a really good job at them. But then, they were in a little theater in the East Village where 10 people saw the whole run of the show,” he said. “Using the model of when art meets commerce, I’d say the ‘24’ job was probably the first time I felt that this could be a bigger wave than I’m used to.”

Keshawarz played Yusuf Auda in an eight-story arc during season two of Fox’s hit series.

“I remember feeling the type of role it was. It was crafted very well by the writers. I said I think I can lend something to this that a lot of people will be able to relate to and make it a memorable character,” he said.

The 45-year-old has been in “Lost,” ”The Sopranos,” ”Damages” and “Homeland,” among other television series.

“I really loved what they gave me to do on ‘Homeland.’ . I played a Navy Seal who was raised in Texas whose parents were from the Middle East who rode bulls. I got to embrace every energy that really is me,” he said.

Among his movie credits are playing Adam Sandler’s great-great-grandfather in flashbacks in “The Cobbler,” as well as parts in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Adjustment Bureau.” His theater work includes two Broadway productions “Tarzan” and “Taboo,” the story of Boy George in the 1980s New York and London club scenes, as well as a number of off-Broadway productions.

Most recently Keshawarz played Detective Mike Hanson on ABC’s “Forever.”

“We’re on hiatus. Unfortunately it didn’t get the pick in the new rotation of ABC show,” he said. “Warner Bros. is in an active push to find another network for it next season. We’ll see what happens.”

His next project will be an Iraq war play, “Hoodwinked,” by Emily Mann.

“The look I have, I’m able to do a variety of different roles. It’s what I love about acting. You can become someone else on so many different levels if you’re versatile. Other actors specialize in niche acting. I don’t do that. I like to think that I can try to do anything that’s put in front of me. Really character work is my speciality, I’ve been able to scratch out a career being able to look different, sound different. It’s what I like to do,” he said.