Don't read if you're going to see "Harold and Kumar" - question about a cameo

April 27, 2008 7:11 PM

Spoiler inside for "Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay". Who was that one actor?

OK, you've been warned. I'm sure the terrorist / fellow prisoner, with the huge fake beard, with our protagonists in Guantanamo Bay was played by Steve Carell, but don't see his name in any cast list. Am I wrong about this?

posted by amtho to media & arts (12 comments total)

By the way, yes, I did check IMDB - but didn't see a listing for "prisoner #1" or "terrorist #1" or anything that looked promising. Smaller roles were listed, though.
posted by amtho at 8:05 PM on April 27, 2008

This interview leads me to believe that it probably not him. But of course that's far from a definitive answer.
Rob Corddry interviewed:
Has there been a resistance to Daily Show reporters being seen as actors?
There was definitely - before Steve Carell broke out, around the time where he was just getting parts in movies, where we were just kind of confusing to casting directors. “He’s using his own name, but I think he’s a reporter?” It was weird. Carell definitely paved the way for the rest of us to be accepted a lot easier than before. If it weren’t for Carell, I don’t think any of us would have had such an easy time – not easy, but you know what I mean.
posted by dawson at 8:39 PM on April 27, 2008

even that it's not him...probably
posted by dawson at 8:39 PM on April 27, 2008

In the photos on IMdB from the premiere, I see Jason Biggs (of American Pie fame) twice. Any chance it's him? Haven't seen the movie myself.
posted by WCityMike at 9:43 PM on April 27, 2008

Also, there's a few references to Richard Christy from the Howard Stern Show doing a cameo in the movie.
posted by WCityMike at 9:45 PM on April 27, 2008

I don't believe he did the cameo as the prisoner, but it appears that Chris Meloni was in the movie, too, uncredited.
posted by WCityMike at 9:48 PM on April 27, 2008

I assume the guy you're seeking to identify is the guy at 0:12 on this video.
posted by WCityMike at 10:16 PM on April 27, 2008

If so, I believe that's Amir Talai. Flipping back and forth between a freezeframed trailer and his headshot on the IMdB, it looks like the same guy.
posted by WCityMike at 10:20 PM on April 27, 2008

Amir Talai appeared later as a different character. This doesn't mean he didn't play both parts, but he's only credited as Raza, who was their buddy from Florida.
posted by null terminated at 10:42 PM on April 27, 2008

I don't think the guy in the YouTube post is Carrell. Different noses and eyebrows.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 3:10 AM on April 28, 2008

Argh! I have such a hard time viewing YouTube videos. I can't freeze-frame at all, for some reason. Maybe the answer will come out in the media sometime...
posted by amtho at 9:34 AM on April 28, 2008

I think there was a credit at the end for makeup/prosthetics, and that actor's nose is rather large, so I wouldn't be surprised if whomever it is was well-disguised. Which doesn't explain my instantaneous conviction that it was Steve Carell -- I thought I did recognize the eyes, but I'm not a Carell expert; I'd just seen him a few minutes before in the "Get Smart" trailer.
posted by amtho at 9:36 AM on April 28, 2008