Sam Asghari has finished starring in the short action thriller The Good American.
Asghari stars as Ben, an Iranian refugee and rideshare driver from Los Angeles. Ben becomes involved in the criminal underworld when a passenger (Max Reeves) asks him to help rescue his twin sister (also Reeves) from a human trafficking ring run by the Russian mob.
Director and co-writer Alex Fazeli said the film’s immigration themes were inspired by a New York Times article about Iranian-Americans detained at the US-Canada border after Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
“I know what it’s like to be homeless, to search for a home, and to finally have a place to belong,” said Fazeli, whose family immigrated from Iran to Southern California when she was 12 and became a U.S. citizen. “I’ve never questioned whether I’m an American. Never have. I know what I believe in, what I stand for, what I sacrificed to be here. And the border agent opens my passport, and in that moment, none of it matters. Being a good American is never about your values. It’s about where you were born.”
Asghari’s family moved her from Iran to Los Angeles with her uncle when she was 12 years old.
He recently spoke to me about the war between the United States and Iran at a Human Rights Campaign gala in Los Angeles in late March. “I’m very worried,” Asghari said. “War is not what I want, and it’s not what anyone in the world wants…But the truth is, the Iranian people need help, and in a way the majority of the people are happy that this sad moment is making history.”
He said: “We are living in the most important moment in history and we are very confused about where we are coming from after being bombed, but at the same time, the Iranian people, our hope is that the government will be overthrown.”
Rounding out the film’s cast are Ali Farahani, Anthony Berevtsov, Ziza Rafii, and Ali Sahm.
Asghari, who famously was married to Britney Spears for 14 months before divorcing in 2024, has film and television credits including “The Hux,” “Lioness,” “Jackpot!,” “Traitor” and “Black Monday.”
