Meet Faruk Amireh | Actor & Comedian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Faruk Amireh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Faruk, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk has played a major role in my life and career. Without taking risk, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And the funny thing is, risk will follow you the rest of your life.

To me risk is also a measure of faith. Whether in yourself, a higher power or whatever drives you to keep going.

12years ago I made a really big decision to leave my career and family behind in Florida to move to California and pursue my passion in Entertainment. It was the scariest decision I’ve ever made, and quite possibly the best one.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My story is a little different than most. I am a Palestinian-American who was born and raised in South Florida but also lived in Jordan for a few years when I was younger. Over the summers, we’d go to Palestine to visit family for 2-3 months at a time. Being Arab-American it was always a little harder for me to adjust to the world around me because i was caught up between two different cultures. Lets just say no one wanted to trade their goldfish for my hummus at snack time.

I was raised in a way where I’m supposed to grow up, become a Doctor and get married. End of story. Very stereotypical way of thinking. But I dont blame my parents for that. I know that they only wanted what was best form me. Only problem was it wasn’t my story. Growing up and knowing war all your life and being dehumanized by the media does something to you. It makes you angry and want to jump up at the tv screen and scream “thats not what happend!!!!”

When I was about 7, I would watch Star Wars and Indiana Jones on repeat. I had seen every Disney movie a million times over. I was obsessed. When I put together tht Han Solo and Indianna were the same guy, my mind was blown. Harrison ford is my hero

Eventually as I grew my love for film and Comedy grew as well. The film industry was always kinda seen as something thats “not for us”. Almost unheard of as a career. And I always thought to myself well why not us? We’re always depicted as such the bad guys in film, never Indiana jones!

After 9/11 everything changed for Arab-Americans with racism on the rise. At that time I had fallen in love with Stand up comedy and used it in a way to sort of to sort of tell the world what we’re experiencing and our side of the story

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a pretty simple guy and love what I love. Considering I live in Hollywood right by the Blvd, I always first like to get the “cheesy” things out of the way lol they might be cheesy to us living here, but you have to remember for people coming from out of town, this is all brand new to them. Cheesy things include walk of fame, chinese theatre and maybe a little drive around town to show them some cool filming spots. I also live right by Runyon Canyon which is a great hike with a great view of the entire city.

At night I would definitely take friends to either a Groundlings, UCB, Comedy Store or Laugh Factory show. Walking the Grove and vivsitng the Farmers Market is always a good time too. If we’re feeling adventurous I’d take them up to Malibu to see some jaw dropping views while enjoying a lobster roll!
Dive up PCH while we’re at it and maybe get a little surfing in

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Honestly this might sound a little biased but I would definitely LOVE to Shoutout my brother Mohammad. Being Palestinain-Americans in the entertainment industry today is now more crucial than ever. We need to make sure we have proper representation and that our stories are told correctly. Mohammad is an inspiring Director who just joined the Directors Guild after many hard years of work. He’s worked with countless big names including his last project where he worked as an Assistant Director alongside James Gunn

Website: https://imdb.me/farukamireh

Instagram: @farukamireh