Sammy Sheik was born in Alexandria, Egypt. His passion for acting drove him to leave home shortly after high school and move to New York to study theatre. He soon landed his first film role in the Albert Brooks' satire comedy "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World", playing Al-Jazeera executive "Mukhtar Al-Mujib." Sheik followed this with memorable roles in both film and television including recurring roles on Homeland, 24, United States of Tara and roles on Nikita, The Unit, NCIS and Lost, among others. Sheik's film credits include Attack On Darfur, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Charlie Wilson's War among others. In 2012, ten years after leaving Egypt, Sheik finally returned to work on a series called "Hekayat Banat", which heralds the beginning of his rising international career. In addition to his acting career, in 2010 Sheik was appointed goodwill ambassador to the Middle East for Y-Peer, a youth education network, pioneered by the United Nations Population Fund. Sheik travels the world on behalf of the organization which is active in more than 36 countries.
