Paul Elia

Paul Elia
Born	(1988-02-23) February 23, 1988 Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up television film
Years active	2009–present
Genres	stand-up comedy surreal humor insult comedy sarcasm satire podcasting
Subject(s)	Assyrian culture Iraqi culture Southwestern Asia Detroit everyday life relationships family failures and setbacks religion
Website	watchpaulelia.com

Paul Elia (born February 23, 1988) is an Assyrian American comedian and actor from Detroit, MI. In 2024, his debut comedy special Detroit Player was released on YouTube.

Career

Elia was born in the city of San Diego, California on February 23, 1988, to Iraqi Assyrian immigrant parents. His family moved to Southfield in Metro Detroit in 1994. Growing up, his mother was a cashier and owner of a liquor store in Clinton Township, while his father worked as a butcher for various supermarkets. He was initially two classes shy of graduating from Wayne State University with a bachelor's in English and had been hoping to apply to law school before deciding to become a comedian. After his first professional role on Detroit 1-8-7, he moved to Los Angeles, California.

Elia arrived in Hollywood in 2011 and immediately hit the ground running – creating and producing his own projects with money he saved while working late nights at a nightclub. Although he didn't have any solid Hollywood representation, he was still managing to audition for various TV shows and films from his savvy networking skills (Elia claims he auditioned for over 400 projects before booking his first high paying job: A National commercial for Honda). He soon began to see an influx of roles in television and film. When asked by The Arab American News about his struggles, Elia said “You have to take big risks. The people who take big risks are the ones who make it...Of course you're going to be scared, but what you do with that defines you as a human being.”

Throughout his career, Elia has been vocal about his Iraqi and especially his Assyrian heritage, and the issues pressing his community in wake of violence in indigenous Assyrian lands in Iraq. He has also been vocal about the divisions that the Assyrian community faces, including among Chaldeans and Syriacs. Elia has also discussed how he began to feel ostracized from his community as a result of his stance on unity, even receiving a death threat before touring in Toronto.

Influences

Elia has previously cited his family (specifically his mother) as being one of the greatest influences in his life, due to her experiences in Iraq and her hard-working lifestyle in one of Michigan's many impoverish neighborhoods. In regard to his comedy, Elia has cited some of his closest partners, Matt Rife and Bassem Youssef, as people who have helped to strengthen his comedy career, including helping him to produce Detroit Player.

Personal life

Elia is currently based in Los Angeles, California. He has three brothers, who take professions in law, neurosurgery, and mortgage banking.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	CornerStore	Hassan Akrawi
2011	Holly's Holiday	Darryl
	Exit 33	Dax
	Bad to the Bone	Jesus Hernandez
2012	Divorce Invitation	Sam
2013	Only in L.A.	Hassan
2014	Love in the Time of Monsters	Jim
	The Brittany Murphy Story	Caller Director
2016	Dirty	Detective Jackson
	In the Same Garden	Anton
2017	2016	Benton
	The Landlord	Heckler
2018	Stillwater	Willie
2020	2 Minutes of Fame	Uber Man	Uncredited role
2022	Who Killed Cooper Dunn?	Willie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Skill Crane	Eugene
	The Hill	Joey
2010	Scourge	Northmen Guard 2
	Defying Deletion: The Fight over Iraq's Nineveh Plains	Terrorist
2011	Dick and Brain	Coffee Shop Owner	Episode 1
	Bluetooths for Better Living	Homeless Eddie
	Detroit 1-8-7	FBI Man #2	Episode: "Blackout", Recurring cast member
	The Finalist	Harold Levy
2012	The People Who Were Never There	The Man
2013	Vegas	AD	Episode: "Two of a Kind"
	A Friend	Ralphy
	Bad News	Mark
	ABC Discovers: Los Angeles Talent Showcase
	Nameless	Bullet #3
2014	Mixology	Kevin	Episode: "Liv and Jim"
	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Diaz	Episode: "Ragtag"
	Mistresses	Delivery Man	Episode: "Friends with Benefits"
	The Yellow Attic	Yusef Thabit
	Mentor	Paul
2014-2016	Absolutely Jason Stuart	Himself	Recurring guest
2015	Xanadu	Joel
	Serial Scoop Now	Himself	Episode: "6th Annual ISAs Red Carpet Show - Part 5"
	The Perils of Posting	Himself
2016	Lady Dynamite	Brian	Episode: "I Love You"
	Open House on Beverly	Mr. Kashat
	Knives	Ray
	No Other Like You	Him
2017	Add-TV	Himself	Episode: "Episode 1.1"
	Sremm Break	Trevor Norton
	Major Crimes	Charles Gray	Episode: "Shockwave: Part 2"
2018	Broken Minds	Samuel
	Dry City	Seth
	Laff Mobb's Laff Tracks	Himself	Episode: "The Inappropriate Barber"
	Sh#t I Love with Jason Stuart	Himself	Episode: "Paul Elia"
2018-2020	Conan	Various roles	Recurring cast, seasons 8-10
2019	TMI Hollywood	Himself	Episode: "Paul Elia Hosts TMI Hollywood"
2020	Doubting Thomas	Jon
	Ramy	Kalim	Episode: "Miakhalifa.mov"
	Tournament of Laughs	Himself	Episode: "And A Round of 32 We Go, Part 1"
2021	Cultural Blasphemy	Himself	Episode: "John Mayer is Overrated" & "The Titanic Was NOT Iconic"
2022	We Need to Talk about America	Himself
2023	All AT Once
	Paul Elia: Detroit Player	Himself	Comedy special

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2011	Action on Film Award	Breakout Action Star – Male	Bad to the Bone	Nominated
2015	Indie Series Awards	Best Writing (Comedy)	Mentor

External links

• Official website
• Paul Elia at IMDb
• Paul Elia on Twitter