“FBI” star, Zeeko Zaki, had a massive impact on his character before he was even cast on the show. Since Season 1 in 2018, Zaki has been playing FBI special agent Omar Adom, “OA,” Zidan on the CBS police procedural series. An American of Egyptian descent just like his character, the actor nailed his audition and was the reason creator Dick Wolf changed OA’s ethnicity from Latino. During a 2018 interview with TV Insider, Zaki described the build-up to his casting as OA on “FBI.” “I was the only [Arab actor] at the audition. They switched up the script and took a chance on me,” Zaki said.
Thus far, throughout its eight seasons, “FBI” hasn’t shied away from OA’s Arab-Muslim identity and places the character at the forefront of all types of cases — from terrorism to organized crime. Zaki has found success in his first-ever lead TV role, as he has also made appearances in the canceled spin-off shows, “FBI: International” and “FBI: Most Wanted.”
The importance of OA as an FBI lead character
Generally speaking, TV crime dramas haven’t delivered positive representation of Arab and Muslim individuals, frequently reducing them to harmful “terrorist” stereotypes and/or relegating them to the background. But when Wolf was crafting his main cast for “FBI,” he wanted the lead heroes to represent the real world and felt that it was important to incorporate a character like OA after meeting Zaki. “There are Muslim FBI agents who speak Arabic,” he told TV Insider. “It’s terrific to have Zeeko as a role model for inclusiveness.”
Portraying a character so contradictory to decades of Islamophobia on TV is a huge deal for Zaki, who hopes to make a difference in how general audiences view Muslims. “It’s great how we’re portraying the race and religion of this character,” he shared with Variety in 2019. “We’re not shoving it down your throat. It’s just something that exists because it’s the reality of the situation. Normalizing it and making it not a big deal is reverse psychology on the audience, whether it’s in America or some parts of the world that feel a certain way about Arab American Muslims.”
With the “FBI” Season 8 finale in the books and Season 9 slated to premiere later this year, Zaki’s OA continues to serve as a valuable crime-fighter who defies longstanding TV stereotypes.
