David Dastmalchian
Birthdate: Jul 21, 1975
Birthplace: Allentown, Pennsylvania
David Dastmalchian has appeared in multiple movies by such world-class filmmakers as Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, reflected in his first two significant big-screen appearances, first in Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008), starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman, and grossing over $1 billion for Warner Bros., and then in his acclaimed turn in Villeneuve’s tense abduction drama, Prisoners (2013), co-starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, with Viola Davis, Maria Bello and Terrence Howard, and earning Warners $122 million.
Dastmalchian elevated his movie work as writer and star of the drama, Animals (2014), directed by Collin Schiffli and co-starring Kim Shaw and John Heard, and which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award before a U.S. release by Oscilloscope. Mexican director/writer Michel Franco cast Dastmalchian in a supporting role opposite leading man Tim Roth in the drama, Chronic (2015), with Sarah Sutherland, Rachel Pickup, and Michael Cristofer, and which won the Best Screenplay Palme d'Or in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival before worldwide release.
Dastmalchian then landed the role of Kurt in the 12th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man (2015), starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena and Anthony Mackie, directed by Peyton Reed and co-written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay and Rudd, and grossing over $519 million for Disney; and then Dastmalchian returned in the Reed-directed and Rudd-starring sequels, Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)—grossing over $622 million--and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), delivering over $476 million.
David Dastmalchian reunited with director Denis Villeneuve for a supporting role in his highly anticipated though commercially disappointing sequel, Blade Runner 2049 (2017), starring Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas and Jared Leto, grossing only $276 million for Warner Bros. Dastmalchian had his second movie as co-star/writer with the drama, All Creatures Here Below (2018), starring Karen Gillan, David Koechner and John Doe under Collin Schiffli’s direction, and released by Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Dastmalchian landed another role in a superhero franchise—but this time in the DC Comics Extended Universe--as Polka-Dot Man in DCEU’s tenth feature, director/writer James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021), starring Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis and Pete Davidson, but whose theatrical release return of $169 was greatly harmed by Warners’ decision to quickly send the movie to streaming during the latter phase of the COVID pandemic, thus eating into the movie’s potential theatrical return.
Dastmalchian reunited for his third movie with director Denis Villeneuve in the long-anticipated Frank Herbert adaptation, Dune (2021), starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Jason Momoa and Javier Bardem, and which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won six Oscars (from ten nominations) and grossing over $410 million for Warner Bros.
David Dastmalchian appeared in a trifecta of horror movies in the same year with Late Night with the Devil (2023), The Boogeyman (2023), and The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023), but the most notable casting for Dastmalchian that year was him reuniting with filmmaker Christopher Nolan for a small role (as William Borden) in the Oscar-sweeping, blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer (2023), starring Best Actor-winning Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor-winning Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie and Kenneth Branagh, and grossing a tremendous $976 million for Universal Pictures.
Dastmalchian had a supporting role in director/writer Chris Weitz’s sci-fi/horror AI-themed movie, Afraid (2024), starring John Cho, Katherine Waterston, and Havana Rose Liu, produced by Columbia Pictures/Blumhouse and released by Sony Pictures Releasing.
Dastmalchian joined the large cast of director/writer/producer Mike Flanagan’s sci-fi movie, The Life of Chuck (2024), based on Stephen King’s novella of the same title, co-starring Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill, Carl Lumbly, Harvey Guillen, Nick Offerman and Q’orianka Kilcher, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and released by Neon. Dastmalchian then co-starred in the horror movie Rosario (2025), with Emeraude Toubia, José Zúñiga, and Paul Ben-Victor under Felipe Vargas’s direction and released by Mucho Mas Releasing.
David Dastmalchian continued to co-star in horror movies with lead roles in both director/writer/producer Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny (date to be announced), co-starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sigourney Weaver, and produced by eOne Films/Thunder Road Pictures; and also The Cure (date to be announced), with Samantha Cochran, Ashley Greene, Sydney Taylor and Tyler Lawrence Gray, under Nancy Leopardi’s direction, and co-produced by Indy Entertainment/Showdown Productions/Popternative Pictures.
Dastmalchian was both star and producer of the thriller, Kodak SuperXX (date to be announced), with Kelly Marie Tran, directed by Auden Bui, and written by Tony Rettenmaier. Dastmalchian starred with Kate Siegel in the zombie horror movie, Epilogue (date to be announced), directed and photographed by Michael Fimognari and produced by Broken Road Productions/Red Room Pictures. Dastmalchian then co-starred in director/writer/producer Russell Goldman’s horror movie, Sender (date to be announced), with Britt Lower, Jamie Lee Curtis (who also served as producers), and Anna Baryshnikov, which was produced by Comet Pictures.
Personal life
David Dastmalchian was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and raised in both Allentown and Overland Park, Kansas, by his Iranian-American father, Hossein (engineer), and his mother. Dastmalchian has a brother and two sisters. Dastmalchian graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School in 1994, where he participated in the drama club. Dastmalchian studied theater and acting at the Theatre School at DePaul University, graduating in 1999. Dastmalchian has been married to artist Evelyn “Eve” Leigh since 2014; the couple has two children, Arlo and Pennie. Dastmalchian’s height is 6’1”.
David Dastmalchian Movies
actor
Previous (33)
- 2025 |
Dust Bunny
An eight-year-old girl asks her scheming neighbor for help in killing the monster under her bed that she thinks ate her family.
- 2025 |
The Life of Chuck
asJosh
A life-affirming, genre-bending story based on Stephen King's novella about three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz.
- 2025 |
- 2024 | Rosario
- 2024 | The Life of Chuck
- 2024 |
- 2024 |
Late Night with the Devil
asJack Delroy
A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms.
- 2023 | Boston Strangleras Albert DeSalvo
- 2023 |
Last Voyage of the Demeter
asWojchek
A crew sailing from Varna (Bulgaria) by the Black Sea to England find that they are carrying very dangerous cargo.
- 2023 |
The Boogeyman
asLester Billings
Two sisters grieving the recent death of their mother without receiving much support from their father, a therapist who is dealing with his own grief, must face a supernatural entity that feeds on the suffering of its victims.
- 2023 |
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
asVeb
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne are dragged into the Quantum Realm, along with Hope's parents and Scott's daughter Cassie. Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope's mother hiding? And who is the mysterious Kang?
- 2022 | In Search of Darkness: Part III
- 2021 | Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Oneas Calendar Man
- 2021 | Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Twoas Calendar Man
- 2021 |
Dune: Part One
asPiter de Vries
Paul Atreides arrives on Arrakis after his father accepts the stewardship of the dangerous planet. However, chaos ensues after a betrayal as forces clash to control melange, a precious resource.
- 2019 | Teacheras James Lewis
- 2019 |
- 2018 | A Million Little Piecesas Roy
- 2018 | All Creatures Here Belowas Gensan
- 2018 | The Domesticsas Willy Cunningham
- 2018 |
Ant-Man and the Wasp
asKurt
As Scott Lang balances being both a superhero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.
- 2017 |
Blade Runner 2049
asCoco
Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.
- 2017 |
The Belko Experiment
asLonny Crane
In a twisted social experiment, eighty Americans are locked in their high-rise corporate office in Bogotá, Colombia, and ordered by an unknown voice coming from the company's intercom system to participate in a deadly game of kill or be killed.
- 2016 | Under the Pyramidas Yonas Al Masri
- 2015 | Chronicas Bernard
- 2016 |
- 2015 |
- 2014 | Animalsas Jude
- 2013 | Cassas Joshua Whitmore
- 2013 | The Employeras James Harris
- 2013 |
- 2012 | 1,000 Times More Brutalas Antonio Scarafini
- 2011 | Virgin Alexanderas Hank
Facts About David Dastmalchian
Condition: David Dastmalchian had the chronic autoimmune disorder, Vitiligo, which causes skin to lose pigment or color. Because he was teased (and worse) by kids around his age, Dastmalchian also suffered from depression as a young person, and later was addicted to heroin for five years, which he dramatized in the film he wrote, Animals.
Comic Book Creator: Dastmalchian launched his comic book series, Count Crowley, for Dark Horse Comics in 2019.
Theatre Man: David Dastmalchian comes from the Chicago theater scene, which he immersed himself in after graduating from DePaul University’s Theatre School and becoming a member of Shattered Globe Theatre Company and Caffeine Theatre.
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