| Omar Doom | |
| Birthname: | Omar Makhdomi |
| Birth Date: | June 29, 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Easton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Spouse(S): | Isabella Knight (2010–2013) |
| Occupation: | Actor and musician |
| Yearsactive: | 2007–present |
Omar Doom (born June 29, 1976) is an American actor, musician, and artist. Doom is best known to film audiences for his role as Private First Class Omar Ulmer in the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, directed by Quentin Tarantino. His current musical project is an electronic / techno / EDM endeavor called STRAIGHT RAZOR.
Omar Doom was born Omar Makhdomi (pronounced Makhdoomi) in Easton, Pennsylvania, to parents Dr. Rashid and Jawahira Makhdomi. Both his parents originate from the Kashmir region in South Asia. His father is a physician at Easton Hospital. He was one of three children, including his two sisters. Doom's parents would take the family to a cultural institution or exhibit every week. For example, the family would attend an opera or play in Manhattan, New York City, or a film at a local art house theater.[1]
Doom graduated from Easton Area High School in 1994. Following graduation, Doom attended Parsons The New School for Design, where he pursued a degree in painting.[1] Doom studied abroad at the Parsons Campus in Paris, France during his sophomore year of college.
Doom's initial experience with music was fronting a band called Ordeal in the nineties when he was in high school,[2] and he later returned to a music career after Parsons when he became the frontman of a two-person electronic rock band called Doomington, along with Stretch Armstrong, a successful DJ and music producer. The duo is now defunct.[3]
Doom met director Quentin Tarantino in Los Angeles in 1998 through mutual friends. They have reportedly been close friends ever since. Tarantino has been known to invite Doom over to his home for movie marathons. At one point, Tarantino held a birthday party for Doom. The party included screening of old television shows, cartoons, as well as films including Hammerhead and The Mack.[1]
Tarantino encouraged Makhdomi to both pursue an acting career and adopt the shorter stage name, Omar Doom. Doom was not pursuing acting at the time. Instead, he was working as a musician and a co-running a clothing line, called Diabla, with one of his sisters, Saira where he primarily focused on the clothing line's artwork.[4] Following Tarantino's advice, Doom began studying acting. In an interview during a press junket in Berlin for Inglourious Basterds, Doom described Tarantino's encouragement, "Quentin told me I'd be great in movies. He really pushed me. I decided to go for it. I took his advice, and studied acting."[1]
Quentin Tarantino hired Doom for his first acting role, in a small part as Vanessa Ferlito's character's love interest, Nate, in the 2007 film Death Proof.[1] Tarantino further cast Doom in a larger role in his next film, Inglourious Basterds. Doom did not know he was cast in the movie until Tarantino called him two weeks before shooting was scheduled to start.[3] Doom was cast as one of the film's eight Basterds, a group of Jewish-American soldiers charged with hunting down and killing Nazi soldiers in occupied France during World War II. Doom attended the Cannes Film Festival with the cast in May 2009.[1] Tarantino would cast Doom once again for the role of Donnie in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Doom's first release under the name STRAIGHT RAZOR, "Whiskey & Ativan", debuted on Lil Death Records on August 20th, 2013. STRAIGHT RAZOR is a blend of industrial, electronic, and EBM styles, and is partly inspired by horror film scores Doom grew up on.[5] The project name was inspired by the black-gloved killers from Italian Giallo films of the 1960s.[6] The single "Whiskey & Ativan" was accompanied by remixes by Monsieur Monsieur (Bromance Records), Thee Mike B (Play it Down Records) and Sinden (Grizzly).[7]
Doom released the first EP under the STRAIGHT RAZOR name, Vol. 1, on July 9, 2021 on Negative Gain Records. A second EP, Vol. 2, followed on July 17, 2022. Doom described Vol. 1 as having a dark and driving intensity to it, while Vol. 2 opened the sound up more. [8] ""I grew up playing in metal bands so creating those same riffs on a synth was a lot of fun," Doom said of Vol. 1.[9] The track "Lady Midday" from Vol. 2 was featured as the title song for the film Spree, starring Joe Keery of Stranger Things. Doom supported the releases with small tours and shows across the US.[10]
A remix album, REMIXED, was released on April 28, 2023 and was the debut release under Doom's own record label, Doom Vision Records. [11] REMIXED features reworked tracks from Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, including remixes by Gost, Corvad, MORIS BLAK, Nightcrawler, Destryur, and Electronic Substance Abuse (ESA). Doom re-released Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 under Doom Vision Records in the summer of 2023.
In addition to his work as STRAIGHT RAZOR, Doom also DJs under the name STRAIGHT RAZOR as well as Omar Doom.[12]