Zeeko Zaki of 'FBI' recalls lunches at Purebread, crewing on Christina River in Wilmington

Zeeko Zaki may be starring in the television series "FBI" on CBS, but he's always had a Plan B in case the whole acting thing goes sideways.

He's gonna be a hair stylist like his father, who owns Sherif Zaki Salon and Spa in Greenville.

"We're not there yet, but who knows?" Zaki said from the New York City set of his show, which runs Tuesday nights and is produced by Dick Wolf of "Law & Order" fame. "You can't put all your eggs into one basket."

The role of FBI agent Omar Adom "OA" Zidan is Zaki's highest profile one yet. Before landing this job, the 28-year-old was often tagged to play the bad guy in supporting roles. 

Now the Egyptian-born actor who moved to the U.S. when he was a baby plays a federal officer who had been undercover a while before being paired with Missy Peregrym's Maggie Bell.

The role originally was designed for a Hispanic actor in the mid-30s to early-40s range. When Zaki's manager received an audition notice for another client, he also had Zaki do an audition tape and sent it in. Zaki was asked to meet Wolf and a producer. They asked him to do a formal callback.

"He owned it in the audition," Wolf told TV Guide. The role was rewritten to reflect Zaki's Egyptian and Muslim heritages.

Zaki said he first assumed that Wolf simply was willing to make a bold choice. Then Zaki found out that Wolf had done a documentary on the FBI and worked on it with a half-Egyptian agent.

So his casting reflects real life in that way, Zaki says.

"There are Muslim FBI agents who speak Arabic," Wolf told TV Guide. "It's terrific to have Zeeko as a role model for inclusiveness."

Even so, Zaki says, "I'm not the traditional breakdown of a lead character, and he did take a chance. So far, so good."

Crewing on the Christina

Zaki grew up in Unionville with a brother and a sister, and attended Unionville High School.

There were few other Muslim families in the area when he was growing up, he has said.

He has fond memories of Delaware, including having lunch at Purebread Deli in Greenville when he was helping his dad put up Christmas decorations at the salon. His parents, who now live in Hockessin, opened it when he was 3.

He recalls swinging on ropes with friends at the Newark reservoir, and many hours rowing the Christina River with crewmates in the Wilmington Youth Rowing Association.

His parents encouraged his acting dream, especially his mother, Emon.

"She always said from day one that she would see my name in lights," Zaki says. "She was probably the only Arab mother in the history of the world that didn't want her kid to go to college and wanted him to get into acting." 

He believes they realized he had an artistic bent early on. It may have come when he was 5 and stole his father's scissors to give all his troll dolls' flourescent-colored hair a trim. He also cut his friends' hair in high school.

After high school, he headed to Temple University in Philadelphia instead of the bright lights of Broadway. He left there to attend Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina, partly because there was a small film industry in the area, Zaki says. 

After Zaki appeared in a play there, a casting director and agent from a small Wilmington, North Carolina, agency signed him, and he dropped out of school. 

"We just started auditioning and trying to start a career that started off like anybody else," he says. "Extra work. Background work. One liners to one scene, eventually growing into recurring roles."

He moved to Atlanta where he lived for two years starting in 2015. There, he started a head shot and audition taping service for Atlanta actors so he had an income between gigs.

When he was cast in both "Six" on the History Channel and "24: Legacy" on Fox at the same time, he moved to Los Angeles.

Being cast in "FBI" meant a move to New York.

Zaki doesn't regret not earning a degree in drama, or going to New York to focus on theater. 

"This is an industry where there's not a wrong or right way to get into it," Zaki says. "I learned my acting based off other actors." 

Getting to tape actors ages 7 to 75 for his audition service in Atlanta taught him a lot, he says.

"When you get out of drama school, the job really becomes auditioning," he says. "That's the only acting some actors will do in a year. I've probably auditioned over 300 times and booked 20 things.

"You have to be mentally strong enough to make it in this industry. You have to find a way to stay alive and make money, all the while keeping that drive and passion alive."

Playing the lead in 'FBI'

Starring in "FBI" isn't just the most incredible opportunity he's ever had.

"It's also the most pressure I've ever felt in this line of work, and the biggest honor I've ever received to be able to lead what hopefully turns into a successful franchise produced by Dick Wolf," Zaki says. 

The show has been renewed for another season. While it's yet another police procedural, Zaki says the show tries to be more realistic about how the FBI and other law enforcement really work.

The two lead characters work with a team of experts that includes actors Sela Ward, Jeremy Sisto and Ebonee Noel to solve crimes each week.

That level of teamwork isn't always visible in real life or television, he says.

"It's important for the public and the world to know what these people are doing day in and day out on the ground to keep them safe," Zaki says. 

He thinks the show portrays both the crimes and the police work in a more honest and dark tone that occasionally can get gritty.

The show shoots scenes on the street, and Zaki says it's an amazing honor to film a scene in the middle of a street or with New York as the backdrop.

"We have filmed in every borough, all over Manhattan, in the outside boroughs and 45 minutes to two hours away," he says. "Dick Wolf really likes to make the city itself a character in the show."

While the show features a crime each week, parts of the shows are devoted to the back stories of the characters.

Peregrym's Maggie Bell is a widow whose law enforcement husband died in the line of duty. Zaki's Zidan keeps trying to reach out to her on a personal level, but she so far has resisted sympathy, confiding in him or emotional connection.

The shows on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 begin to explore more of the supporting cast's back stories, he says.  

"The more we lean away from the traditional procedural element, and the deeper we get into our emotional and character back stories, that really excites us on set," Zaki says. "To get to play off Missy Peregrym, emotionally it's some of our best work. We have an amazing chemistry on and off set. It's really fun to play these deeper, more interesting scenes that we get to see in the next few episodes."

Middle Eastern superhero

While Zaki is reveling in his "FBI" job, he says he does have a dream: Being the first Middle Eastern superhero.

"Growing up as a kid, the bigger-than-life superhero world was always very attractive to me," he says. "The dream would definitely be to be some sort of equivalent to the Black Panther one day, and hopefully we would give kids an Arab-American role model that looks like them and adds to the diverse ecosystem in the Marvel or D.C. world.

"The big dream is to definitely leave my mark that way."

The 6-foot-5-inch actor has the physique for a latex- or leather-encased character.

He's lost 100 pounds in the last seven years and been featured in some bodybuilding and health magazines. 

Zaki said crewing in high school sparked his interest. He started working out to P90X video programs and then tried different diets and workout routines to keep his interest in exercising high. He finds he gets obsessive about something about every six months, and that has included yoga and Crossfit.

"Keeping it fresh and new was a good way to sustain what was a gradual and hopefully healthy weight loss," Zaki says. 

When he's able, he likes to work out four to six times a week. Right now, he gets up at 4 a.m. to work out for about 30 minutes before his 6 a.m. set call "just to get the juices flowing."

With 12- to 14-hour shooting schedules, "your body will break down faster if you're not keeping it fit," he says. 

Contact Betsy Price at (302) 324-2884 or beprice@delawareonline.com.

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