About Fahim Fazli
Fahim Fazli is a man of two worlds: Afghanistan, the country of his birth, and the United States, the nation he adopted and learned to love. Fahim is also a man who escaped oppression, found his dream profession, and then paid it all forward by returning to Afghanistan as an interpreter with the U.S. Marines from 2009-2010. He came to the United States as a refugee in his teens. He enjoyed a privileged childhood until the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. As a young adult he supported the resistance and when he and his remaining family saw the opportunity they fled to Pakistan and then eventually to the United States. He moved to California with dreams of an acting career. Fahim wrote a memoir, Fahim Speaks, that was released in early 2012. "Fahim Speaks" received the 1st place for a biography from the Military Writers Society of America.::self
Afghan born Hollywood actor goes to war: Story of 'warrior-actor' Fahim FazliActor and author Fahim Fazli visited ASU this week to speak to students, offer advice and show them no matter where they come from or what problems life throws at them, dreams can be achieved, which he writes about in his book "Fahim Speaks." Fazli has starred in more than 50 films, working with the likes of Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Murray, Louis C.K. and Robert Downey Jr., but before his acting career, a struggle to get to America began in his childhood home. Child in a warzone In the 1970s, communists took over Afghanistan and reshaped Fazli's life. "In 1979, the communists came to my country and took over Afghanistan in 24 hours," he said. "I was 12 years old, and I didn't know about communism until after the first six months, they killed a million of us." The Soviet Union's invasion had an immediate impact on Fazli's family because his mother worked as a midwife in the Afghan government. "My mom, her name is Fahima, came home from work, and I saw tears in her eyes and she said, 'Fahim, we are leaving but you are not. Your dad wants to hold you and your brother,'" Fazli said. "I asked her what was wrong, and she said the communists will kill us if we don't leave in 24 hours. My dad was stubborn, and he said my brother and I were staying." This was the last time Fazli would see his mother and sisters for four long years. "We went into the house, and I looked at my dad and asked why we didn't go," Fazli said. "He said, 'Shut up and sit down.' He did it because he believed we would beat the Russians in a month or two, but it took us 10 years." After Fazli's mother left, he had to return to school the next day but lost interest in his studies in the seventh grade. "I skipped school, and I saw the tanks passing by everywhere, so I made a flier, a propaganda flier was given to us by the CIA who was helping us defeat the communists," Fazli said. "I would get up at two o'clockin the morning, hiding from my dad and run through the city handing out fliers to put the fears onto the Russians." After spreading fliers given to him by operatives working for the CIA, Fazli and his friends tried to find other ways to defeat the communists. "I would play double agent and go to their base to trade American T-shirts or Kent cigarettes for guns," he said. "They were so into American logos because they had never seen them before. I would trade them and then sell the guns to the freedom fighters who were connected to Pakistan and they were connected to CIA." With the money from the gun sales, Fazli and hi...