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about.
STATS
Elie al Samad
NAME
45
AGE
tba, 1977
D.O.B.
Detroit, Michigan, US
P.O.B.
Private security
OCCUPATION
Lebanese
ETHNICITY
6'3"
HEIGHT
Fares Fares
PLAYED BY
Elie's parents are Lebanese immigrants who fled Lebanon in 1976 amid the Lebanese Civil War. His mother Zaina is a linguistics professor who teaches at MIT, and his father Muhib is a publishing editor and literary translator who also writes poetry. It took several decades of living in the US for them to build up the respect and acumen for their current jobs, and for a good few years after they moved, they were living close to the breadline. Both of his parents were fairly old when Elie was born – they'd had two children before him, but both died in Lebanon before they could get out. As a result, Elie is still something of a miracle child to his parents, who treasure him deeply.
Elie was an intelligence officer from 1998 to 2008, when he left the army aged 31. He got a job in private security shortly after, and started working with the el Jaouhari family in 2010. He's now head of security with a few subordinates. He runs a tight ship, and he's efficient and careful without being overly cautious or limiting anyone's freedom.
He's currently single and has been for a while. His last long-term relationship was almost a marriage, until his fiancée Tessa broke it off at the last minute while he was still in the army. He was pretty badly burned after that, and swore off anything more serious. He's been pushed into going on blind dates and all of them went pretty terribly.
He owns a rescue dog, a mixed breed called Jerky. He also often temporarily fosters dogs from shelters while they wait for permanent homes.
During his time in the army, he was primarily referred to as 'Sam' as a shortening of his surname, which he always disliked, but it was better than people butchering any other part of his name. Nowadays he insists on Elie (it's pronounced like Ellie).
He was raised Muslim, but he follows haram laws (mostly by not drinking alcohol or eating pork) out of habit more than anything else; he doesn't pray and he's not much of a believer. His father is devout, but his mother isn't – this doesn't cause as much relationship friction as you might expect.
His parents are the source of his love of language, both because of their occupations and because they raised him speaking the several languages they already knew as well as English, so he's been multilingual since birth. He also likes to learn bits and pieces of other languages to get by wherever he's going – on the job, if he has to spend a lot of time waiting, he passes the time with Duolingo (he has a 1247-day streak).
His accent when speaking English is neutral American, with a slight Michigan twang.