Sarah Shahi (born January 10, 1980 in Euless, Texas, USA) is an American actress, model and former cheerleader of Iranian and Spanish descent. Shahi was named #90 on the Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list; she moved up to #66 in 2006. Shahi started her career as a beauty queen during her teen years. She won the Miss Fort Worth USA pageant in 1997. Later on, she was a member of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 1999-2000 squad. She appeared on the cover of their 2000 calendar.
While working as an extra on the set of Dr. T and the Women, she met director Robert Altman, who encouraged her to move to Hollywood. Sarah then packed her bags and moved to Los Angeles. Once in L.A., she got various recurrent roles in several famous series, such as Alias, where she played Jenny, and Dawson's Creek, where she was Sadia Shaw.
She is best known for her starring role as the Mexican DJ Carmen de La Pica Morales in the Showtime drama television series The L Word, cast which she joined in its second season.
By her father's side, she is a great-great-granddaughter of Fat'h Ali Shah of the Iranian Qajar dynasty. Sarah's father Abbas is a Muslim and her mother a Christian, but after their divorce in 1993 when Sarah was 13 years old, she started attending Church regularly.
