Alia Shawkat

Alia Shawkat (born April 18, 1989) is an American actress.

Alia Shawkat Biography

Early life and career

Shawkat was born Alia Martine Shawkat in Riverside, California of Iraqi Kurdish, Irish, and Norwegian heritage. Her maternal grandfather is actor Paul Burke, who appeared as Detective Adam Flint on the TV series Naked City (1959–1963).

From 2001 to 2002, Shawkat starred as Hannah Rayburn in the television sitcom State of Grace, aired in the United States on the cable television channel Fox Family (renamed ABC Family in 2001), where she starred opposite Mae Whitman, who later appeared with Shawkat on Arrested Development. She was a regular cast member of the Fox Network series Arrested Development for the entire run of the show from 2003 to 2006. She played Maeby Fünke.

Present career and future projects

Shawkat also appeared in the feature films Rebound, Three Kings and the television movie The Trial of Old Drum. She has made guest appearances in the television series JAG, Without a Trace, and Veronica Mars. She appeared in a Lifetime movie original Not Like Everyone Else, based on the true story of Brandi Blackbear.

Shawkat recently appeared in the Christmas-themed feature film Deck the Halls (2006), starring Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito and Prom Wars (2008) with Raviv Ullman. Coming up for Alia is the Drew Barrymore directed roller derby flick Whip It (2009) and the teen-age girl, punk rock band movie The Runaways (2010).