# Kathreen Khavari

Kathreen Aziz Khavari (Persian: کاترین خاوری;) is an American actress, writer, and producer who first gained attention when her sketch Brain of Terror, in which she played eleven different characters, went viral after it was featured on Upworthy. She is best known for her role as Patricia on HBO's Insecure, Samantha on HBO's Big Little Lies, and for voicing Ms. Marvel in various Marvel Entertainment animated series and video games.

## Early life

Khavari was born and raised in Oakland, California to Iranian immigrant parents. After graduating from Skyline High School, she attended the University of California, Berkeley, studying public health, then later earned a Master's degree from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in Control of Infectious Diseases.

## Career

Khavari realized her childhood passion of acting was unwavering, and upon returning home from London, she took small acting jobs while working in the public health field. She made her off-Broadway debut in “You Are Dead, You Are Here” at the Here Arts Center in New York.
In response to Donald Trump's "Muslim Ban", Khavari made headlines at the premier of Big Little Lies when she wore a dress that read "My Iranian Immigrant Mother Teaches Your Kids How to Read".
Khavari's satirical sketches, which she posted to her YouTube channel Brain of Terror, touched on various social justice issues including gun control, Islamophobia, women's reproductive rights, and police brutality against black men in America.
She voiced Ms. Marvel aka Kamala Khan in numerous Marvel animations including Avengers Assemble, Marvel Rising, and Black Panther’s Quest.
Khavari and her writing partner, Chuck Neal, launched their podcast, Strongly Worded where they do dramatic readings of strongly worded written exchanges that their guests have engaged in.
In 2022, she was the voice of Badyah Hassan in the Netflix animated series Dead End: Paranormal Park. She was also announced as the voice of a new Transformers robot, Twitch, in the Nickelodeon series Transformers: EarthSpark.
Khavari’s Oakland-based pilot, Embrace, debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in their Indie Episodic category. The pilot also won the Episodic Pilot Competition Jury Award at SXSW. The judges stated that it won "for its originality of voice, its depiction of characters and relationships that are both enigmatic and appealing, as well as telling an absorbing story in a world unseen on television at the moment."

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 2025 | Spinal Tap II | Yasmine Farangi | Rob Reiner |
| 2020 | The Night | Elahe | Kourosh Ahari |
| 2016 | Mascots | Bosphorus Cooper | Christopher Guest |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2011 | Love Bites | Young Lawyer | Episode: "Firsts" |
| 2011 | Blue Bloods | Alya Demir | Episode: "Thanksgiving"; uncredited |
| 2013 | Famous Farrah | Farrah Satrapi/"Dorian Plague" | Main role |
| 2016–2018 | Avengers Assemble | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Recurring role |
| 2016–2018 | Insecure | Patricia | Recurring role |
| 2017 | Big Little Lies | Samantha | Recurring role |
| 2017 | Ginger Snaps | Cheerleader #1 (voice) | Recurring role |
| 2017 | Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! | Zara (voice) | Episode: "Protein Titans 2" |
| 2017–2018 | Marvel Future Avengers | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Muneeba Khan (voice) | Recurring role, English dub |
| 2018 | Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters | Young Riya Dashti, Riya's Aunt, Mrs. Rook (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | Marvel Rising: Initiation | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Television film |
| 2018 | Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Mom (voice) | Television film |
| 2018 | Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Television film |
| 2018 | Spider-Man | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan, Shannon Stillwell (voice) | Recurring role |
| 2019 | Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Television film |
| 2019 | Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Television film |
| 2019 | Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) | Television film |
| 2020 | Embrace | Co-writer (with Chuck Neal) and star | Main role |
| 2022 | Dead End: Paranormal Park | Badyah (voice) | Netflix original animated series |
| 2022 | Transformers: EarthSpark | Twitch Malto, additional voices | Main role |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2018 | Marvel Battle Lines | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan |
| 2019 | Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order | Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan |
| 2021 | Destruction AllStars | Tw!nkleR10t |