Summer Bishil (July 17, 1988) is an American television and movie actress. Bishil first came to prominence for her role as Jasira in the film Towelhead.
In 2006, Bishil was chosen to play the lead in Alan Ball's new film, Towelhead, an adaptation of the novel of the same name. She completed filming Wayne Kramer's project, Crossing Over, starring Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd.
In 2007, Bishil was chosen by Variety as one of the 10 Actors to watch. At the 2008 Young Hollywood Awards, Bishil was chosen as "One to Watch" She also appeared in Vanity Fair in their young Hollywood portfolio.
Bishil was born in Pasadena, California to an American mother and a father who is a Saudi citizen of Indian descent. She is the youngest in a family of three children (two daughters, one son). She lived in Pasadena until she was three when her family moved to Saudi Arabia and then to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The family relocated to Bahrain where she was attending the U.S. Department of Defense School, the Bahrain School, when September 11, 2001 attacks happened, prompting her family to return to the United States.
Bishil, her brother and mother returned to Southern California when she was fourteen, where she completed an independent study program for high school. But returning to the United States was not easy at first. "I initially had some tough times trying to assimilate. It really makes you think about who you are and where you’re at.”
In love with the idea of becoming an actress since the age of five, Bishil was 14 before she took her first acting class. Nine months later, a manager and agency signed her to a contract. Her first role was on a short-lived Nickelodeon show, Just for Kicks followed by several appearances in kids shows before her break-through performance in Towelhead. Slate critic Dana Stevens said that "Her performance is the truest thing in a movie that, for all its good intentions, feels thoroughly phony and mildly embarrassing, like an extended PSA about inappropriate touching."
