How Iman Karram Was Able To Make A Name For Herself
Iman Karram is a Arab American Washington DC native and a graduate of UCLA’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and School of Theater, Film and Television. After having moved to LA in the fall of 2014, Iman took a gap year, in order to establish her dance and acting career as well as begin to further immerse herself in her acting training, before beginning college. While initially training in various techniques, Iman quickly found that she connected with the Adler technique training under Deborah Aquila and Donna Morong.
Now having completed her degree, Iman has made strides in her acting career working on films and tv shows on Disney Channel, CW, multiple Netflix originals, and FX. Most recently, Iman starred opposite Zoe Saldana in From Scratch on Netflix, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and in the film Daft State opposite Christopher Backus, and Paulo Costanzo.
In addition to Iman’s dance training and theatrical credits, Iman has also gained praise for her fitness background and talents from athletic superstars like Lebron James.
Making A Name In The Industry
For Iman, it all centers around being disciplened and determined. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actor more than anything else. Before she made it to Los Angeles, she was emotionally open and comfortable in her own skin. That has allowed her to have the ablity to have a unique presence no matter what she is doing, and that makes people take notice, whether that be coaching Lebron James in a class, or in a chemistry read for a network show.
Overcoming Obstacles
Iman shared with us that her first obstacle that also makes her who she is, is her unique learning difference, but once she learned to really work towards her strengths and take advantage of her weaknesses, everything became a part of who she is. For instance, Iman grew up with a form of dyslexia, so new material takes her longer to get through than it would most people, but Iman pays close attention to the details so she truly gets something after she analyzes it, which helps immensely with her understanding of scripts. Iman is also gifted with great memorization skills. She has a 97% memory recall, so what might be a challenge for some, are really strengths of hers as a storyteller .
Iman expressed that we all face obstacles continuously, however understanding it’s not all about you and having a skill set to deal with what is thrown your way is so important, along with patience and trust in your own abilities. Iman’s learning differences fostered her ability to learn discipline and determination at an early age. Iman knows that if she never stops believing in herself and putting in the work, all her dreams will come true.
What makes you different within your industry?
Iman expressed that understanding her strengths and weaknesses has made her journey different. When she was 18 she moved across the country to Los Angeles. Iman gave a lot of thought to whether NYC or LA would serve her better. Iman loves NYC and had spent a lot of time there, as well as a great love for theater, but at the end of the day, LA seemed like the longterm best choice for her. She also knew that the changes would be challenging, so she took a gap year between her high school graduation and college. Iman had been a competitive dancer for most of her life so she had the ability to have a great dance agent when she moved to LA, so most of her early auditions were for dance projects and commercials. Iman applied only to USC School of Cinematic Arts and UCLA, after not getting into either the year before. However, she then got into both after taking her gap year. That was probably one of the hardest decisions she ever had to ever make. She decided to go to UCLA and graduated from the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and School of Theater, Film and Television in two years rather than the four that it would normally take. Her gap year made her understand that as much as she valued obtaining an education, she was desperate to get into an environment that would allow her to get closer to her dream of being an actor.
