Kathreen Aziz Khavari (;) is an American actress, writer, and producer 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.
Khavari first gained recognition when her sketch Brain of Terror, in which she played eleven different characters, went viral after it was featured on Upworthy. Before that, her sketch Shit Oakland Says went viral, while her webseries Famous Farrah garnered attention and was later optioned to Warner Bros.
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 (Kamala Khan) in numerous Marvel animations, including Avengers Assemble and the Marvel Rising franchise.
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, Khavari 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."
Khavari was cast in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues as the band's costume designer, Yasmine Farangi, marking her fourth time working with Christopher Guest
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Director 2016 Mascots Bosphorus Cooper Christopher Guest 2020 The Night ElaheKourosh Ahari 2025 Spinal Tap II: The End Continues Yasmine Farangi Rob Reiner
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 A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. 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"2017–2018Marvel Future AvengersMs. 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 role2019 Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) Television film2019 Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) Television film2019 Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan (voice) Television film2020 Embrace Co-writer (with Chuck Neal) and star Main role2022 Dead End: Paranormal Park Badyah (voice) Netflix original animated series2022Transformers: EarthSparkTwitch Malto, additional voicesMain 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 Khan2021 Destruction AllStars Tw!nkleR10t
References
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