Kario Salem

{{short description|American actor}}

{{BLP sources|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox actor

|name = Kario Salem

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|5|23}}

|birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|education = Juilliard School

|occupation = Actor / Screenwriter

|years_active = 1975–present

}}

Kario Salem (born May 23, 1955) is an American television, film, stage actor and screenwriter.

Early life

Salem, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, is a 1973 graduate of Agoura High School in Agoura, California.

Career

In 1997, Salem earned an Emmy Award as a writer for the television special Don King: Only in America, which also earned him a PEN nomination.{{Cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/salem-back-hbo-ring-crusades-145992|title=Salem back in HBO ring with Crusades mini|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=2017-09-04|language=en}} The film also won the Broadcast Film Critics Award and Peabody Award for Best Television Film of the year. He received a second Emmy nomination the following year for writing The Rat Pack, in addition to a second PEN nomination. He also won as Brad Stephens in Hawaii Five-O season 8 episode, "The Deadly Persuasion".

In 1991, Salem won a Drama-Logue award for his performance in Richard Greenberg's The Extra Man at South Coast Repertory Theater, as well as a Boston Critics award for his performance as "Cousins" in George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara with Cherry Jones at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge. Salem also co-starred on Broadway as "Scoop" in The Heidi Chronicles with Mary McDonnel.

In 1975, he starred as Mr. Applegate in the Valley Musical Theatre Institute production of Damn Yankees. Also in the cast were Kevin Spacey and April Winchell, who were both 15 at the time.

He has appeared in over 80 guest starring roles on television, including Francis Campion in Testimony of Two Men (1977), Marcel Pasquinel in Centennial (1978), and the ghost of a dead soldier in an Emmy Award-winning episode of M*A*S*H. His film roles include the role of Jocko in Triumph of the Spirit (1989), the role of The Grand Inquistor in Ridley's Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and the bleach blonde French gangster in Roger Avary's Killing Zoe (1993).

Salem is also a composer and partner in the music company, "Matter Music", best known for its soundtracks for the films Riding Giants and Wedding Crashers.

In 2018, Salem was hired{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2018/03/ava-duvernay-new-gods-movie-warner-bros-dc-jack-kirby-1202338680/|title=Ava DuVernay To Direct Jack Kirby Comic Creation ‘The New Gods’ For Warner Bros, DC|work=Deadline|access-date=2018-03-15|language=en}} by Warner Bros./DC Films to write the screenplay for the comic-book movie based on Jack Kirby's New Gods, directed by Ava DuVernay. The movie was no longer moving forward by April 2021.{{Cite web|date=2021-04-01|title=Ava DuVernay's 'New Gods,' James Wan's 'The Trench' DC Movies Not Moving Forward at Warner Bros. (Exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ava-duvernays-new-gods-james-wans-the-trench-dc-movies-not-moving-forward-at-warner-bros|access-date=2021-04-01|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en}}

Recently, Salem decided to revisit his passion for music. Known as K.O.,{{cite web |url=https://www.komusic.co.uk/ |title=K.O. Music |access-date=2018-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426080224/https://www.komusic.co.uk/ |archive-date=2018-04-26 |url-status=dead }} personal support from Bob Dylan, Juval Aviv, and many more has helped spread his music to the masses. K.O.'s music video Stand Down,{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/kosoniccity/videos/10155463133736663/ |title=Stand Down}} starring Billy Bob Thornton, won Best Music Video at the Toronto Shorts International Film Festival{{cite web |url=http://www.tisff.net/toronto/content.asp?PageID=1 |title= Toronto Shorts International Film Festival}} and has over 13 million views on Facebook and counting. He is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ {{Screen reader-only| Kario Salem film credits}}

YearTitleRole
1981Underground AcesSheik
1982Some Kind of HeroYoung Soldier
1986NomadsSchacter
1988Starlight: A Musical MovieArthur Hall
1989Triumph of the SpiritJacko
1991The Boy Who Cried BitchDr. Habib
19921492: Conquest of ParadiseArojaz
1993Killing ZoeJean
1996SavageReese Burroughs

=Television=

{{incomplete list|date=April 2025}}

class="wikitable sortable"

|+ {{Screen reader-only| Kario Salem television credits}}

YearTitleRoleNotes
1987

| The Equalizer

| Griswald

| Episode: "A Place to Stay"

1989Kojak: ArianaDetective Paco MontanaTV movie
1989Kojak: Fatal FlawDetective Paco MontanaTV movie
1990Kojak: Flowers for MattyDetective Paco MontanaTV movie

References

{{Reflist}}