Christopher Maher

Christopher Maher is an Egyptian-American actor and chef who was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and moved with his family to Toronto in the 1960s. He began pre-med studies before switching to acting at the University of Toronto, then studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, where he arrived in 1978. His break came on Another World, where he played Colonel Hashim for a year. He settled in Los Angeles in 1982 to chase film roles and adopted the name Christopher Maher, having been born Maher Boutros, saying he was tired of being cast as an Arab villain. His television work includes episodes of NCIS, 24, Law and Order, The West Wing, Hill Street Blues and Taxi, and he starred with Gena Rowlands in the film Olive. The James Beard Foundation named him among America's great regional chefs, and he runs a cooking school, Cooking Studio Taos, in Taos.