DAVID
DASTMALCHIAN

David Dastmalchian was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in Kansas before studying acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago. His feature debut was as Thomas Schiff in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). The small role offers a useful entry into a career in which a supporting character can quickly alter the atmosphere of a scene. For FLM.RED, the interest lies in how a performer establishes a particular way of attending to the world: a pause, a look towards another character or an unusual cadence can make someone feel specific before the story supplies a detailed history. Dastmalchian’s later work gives that precision room to develop across genres.

Writing is a substantial part of that career. He wrote and starred in Collin Schiffli’s Animals, which screened at SXSW in 2014 and brought him special jury recognition for courage in storytelling. In 2019, Dark Horse published the first issue of Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter, written by Dastmalchian and illustrated by Lukas Ketner. Its reporter Jerri Bartman becomes a television horror host and discovers that the monsters extend beyond the screen. These are distinct works, but they show an actor also taking responsibility for the narrative around a character. Our reading of this combination is that the performance and the structure of a story can be considered together, with attention to who gets to reveal information and when.

His comic-book film roles also require clear distinctions. He plays Kurt in Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), then voices Veb in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). The later character is a separate role. In 2021 he appeared as Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and as Piter De Vries in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune. These credits place him in very different ensembles and visual worlds. FLM.RED sees value in watching how a character’s individuality survives those large settings, whether the performance is carried by a human face, a costume or the timing and texture of a voice.

Late Night with the Devil, written and directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, gives him the central role of television host Jack Delroy. Its US theatrical release was on 22 March 2024. The premise puts a late-night broadcast under supernatural pressure, making the effort to keep a show moving part of the performance itself. In our interpretation, the host’s wish to appear in control is the point to watch: professional reassurance can become increasingly strenuous while a public-facing smile remains in place. No ending is disclosed here. The film cards below show titles held in FLM.RED’s catalogue; the discussion of comics, training and selected films provides career context rather than a complete list of his work.