Parham Rownaghi

Parham Rownaghi was born on May 15, 1997 in Iran. Parham Rownaghi's big-screen debut came with Degrassi: Next Class - Season 4 directed by Stefan Brogren in 2017, strarring Saad Al'Maliki.

Parham Rownaghi was born in Karaj, Alborz, Iran, on May 15, 1997, to Nahid Alikhani, an insurance broker and Ramin Rownaghi, a computer engineer.Parham moved to London, England when he was 3 years old and was raised in the township of Harrow until the age of 10. Parham subsequently moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.At the age of 16, Parham was accepted into the Claude Watson School of the Arts, majoring in Drama. He auditioned for the teen show Degrassi at his high school when an open casting call was made. Although he did not get cast in his first five auditions, he caught the eye of the casting director. It was here that he performed in several one act plays and his first leading role in a full length play as the security guard in Museum by Tina Howe performed at the Helen Gardiner Theater Playhouse.Upon completing his high school education, Parham attended the Schulich School of Business, a specialized business program associated to York University. During his studies, he secured an agent and promptly began working on television shows. His first role was a guest role as Preston, the sophisticated love interest in Raising Expectations (2016). He followed this up with a guest role as the villainous fairy prince, Cliff, in the Other Kingdom (2016). His first break came when he was cast as the series regular on Netflix's Degrassi: The Next Class as the brooding Syrian refugee, Saad Al' Maliki. Parham followed up with guest roles in Mary Kills People (2017) and Murdoch Mysteries (2017).Parham graduated and received his Bachelor of Business Administration with Honors in 2019. He decided to take on the challenge of creating his own short film alongside a good friend and fellow classmate of his, Afrid Syed Iqbal. On a small budget, they produced their first art house short film, Jolly Empty (2021).Parham moved to Los Angeles, California in 2021 after receiving a full scholarship to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, training under the mentorship of David Lee Strasberg. In 2022, Parham co-founded the production company, Rising Tide Productions, specializing in independent filmmaking.