Cirrus@Austlit

Writer, actor, and stand-up comedian.

Sami was born in Iran to Iraqi parents: his father had fled Saddam Hussein's regime, while his mother's family, who had Kurdish heritage, had been deported from Iraq in 1979, when Hussein came to power. Sami was born in 1983, and his father continued to serve in the Iran army (during the Iran-Iraq conflict) until the war ended in 1988. In 1995, the family moved to Melbourne.

Sami had begun acting in his hometown of Qom in Iran, and continued to act in Australia, where he became involved in community theatre, including the successful Trial of Saddam, written by Sami's father, Abu Osamah. In 2005, the play was taken to the United States, but the group was refused entry.

Since then, Sami has worked regularly in film and television and on stage, including films such as 10 Terrorists! and Journey, television shows such as East West 101 and City Homicide, and plays such as Tales of a City by the Sea.

In 2015, he published his memoir, Good Muslim Boy: it was shortlisted for both the New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards (Multicultural NSW Award) and the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (non-fiction). In 2017, Sami's film, Ali's Wedding, co-written with Andrew Knight was released: it won both the AWGIE Award for original feature film and the AACTA Award for best original screenplay, and only lost the AACTA for best film to the film Lion, which had swept the 2017 awards.