Business Grad Uses Skills Learned at SDSU to Help Launch His Acting Career

By Suzanne Finch

Actor Pej Vahdat earned his management degree from SDSU in 2003

Pej Vahdat enrolled at San Diego State University as a member of the Aztec’s men’s tennis team and as a management major at SDSU’s Fowler College of Business. However, his current career path has taken a markedly different turn. 

The Tehran-born Vahdat has been working steadily as an actor for the past 14 years and can currently be seen in the role of Afghani rebel, Faraz Hamzad, on the FX/Hulu thriller, The Old Man, starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow. But it took every ounce of Vahdat’s business know-how, tenacity and persistence to land a plumb role in a TV series. 

Vahdat originally arrived at SDSU from his home in San Jose, California with the intention of being a student athlete. He joined SDSU’s tennis team as a freshman and pursued a degree in management because, he said, “SDSU was known for their business program.” But it was another class that changed his career trajectory. 

“I grew up loving TV and film, but never considered becoming an actor because I never saw anyone in the profession that looked like me,” said Vahdat. “During my junior year at SDSU, I took a theatre class and never looked back. I fell in love with acting.” 

Shortly after graduating from SDSU with his management degree in 2003, Vahdat landed a job as a sales representative for a company that marketed aviation equipment. The job paid his bills, but it wasn’t his ultimate career goal, which was to become a working actor. 

In order to land a paid acting gig, Vahdat used his wits and all of his business and entrepreneurial skills to sell himself. He first needed to find an agent who could pave the way for him to get auditions, but this proved to be more difficult than he anticipated. In 2004, Vahdat and another struggling actor borrowed $5,000 from friend and fellow Aztec, Shomit James (’03, Economics), and they hatched a plan to set up their own agency to represent themselves.  This led to the establishment of Sasco Hill and Associates and Vahdat’s alter ego, talent agent Jason Vaughn. 

To reach casting agents to schedule auditions, Vahdat posing as Vaughn would call various casting directors, telling them that he was “Jason Vaughn from Sasco Hill and Associates and my client, Pej Vahdat, would be perfect for the role of…” 

The plan eventually worked, and “Jason Vaughn” eventually won a few auditions for Vahdat. In 2005, he struck paydirt with a small role in the Showtime network drama, Sleeper Cell, which began airing later that year. After getting that first break, the number of auditions increased and so did the number of bookings. 

About two years later, Vahdat got a real agent and he’s been working steadily ever since. In addition to The Old Man, Vahdat can also be seen on the recently wrapped up Showtime series, City on a Hill, opposite Kevin Bacon, and a reboot of the 1980’s series, Dynasty, which recently aired on the CW. 

Vahdat learned more than business skills at SDSU — he also got his tenacity and work ethic from his days as an Aztec student athlete. “Being a Division I tennis player is extremely competitive and difficult, which helped prepare me for the world of acting,” he said. 

For those who would like to follow Vahdat into an acting profession, he offers these words of advice: “If you want to succeed as an actor you need to work on your craft and then work on it some more. And don’t have an ego!”