Why You Recognize Law & Order Guest Stars Haaz Sleiman and Alimi Ballard
Law & Order's "Enemy of the State" episode had lots of familiar faces. Find out where you know these guest stars from.
Law & Order returned from its midseason break on Thursday night, and in addition to the main cast, it was packed with several other familiar faces.
Haaz Sleiman seamlessly played an undercover FBI agent who went too far in the fight against terrorism in the crime drama's latest episode, titled "Enemy of the State."
If he looks familiar, there’s very good reason for that. The complex role is nothing new for the versatile actor who’s played everyone from Jesus, to the husband of a superhero, to a Syrian musician with nowhere to go after falling victim to a real estate scam.
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Season 24, Episode 9 of Law & Order also saw the return of Alimi Ballard as attorney Ron Delahunt. And Brian Hutchison and Josh Hooks also appear, as an FBI Special Agent in Charge, and a boxer, respectively.
Read on to find out what other projects you may have seen each of these actors in before.
Who did Haaz Sleiman play on Law & Order?
In Season 24, Episode 9 of the show, Sleiman guest-starred as FBI Agent Joshua Haddad. The agent was working undercover in an FBI program known as “lure and trap,” designed in an earlier life by District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) before he had his current job, to identify and stop potential terrorists.
But Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) argued that Haddad took the mission too far, intimidating and threatening his target Noah Turan (Carlin James) while posing as a radical until he eventually convinced Turan to not only carry a bomb, but kill his best friend Raymond in order to keep the plan a secret.
“He didn’t find a monster, he created a monster,” Price insisted to Baxter, as the two men faced off once again about how to proceed with a case.
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What else has Haaz Sleiman been in?
Sleiman has spent more than two decades in the entertainment business after landing his first role in the 2004 indie movie The Ski Trip. For his role as Tarek, a Syrian musician, in 2007's The Visitor, he earned a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male.
Two years later, Sleiman appeared in the first season of Nurse Jackie as Mohammed “Mo-Mo” De La Cruz. He also portrayed Jesus in the 2015 TV movie Killing Jesus and had guest appearances on shows including Veronica Mars, ER, 24, NCIS, Nikita, Blue Bloods, Person of Interest, Covert Affairs, and The Good Wife, according to IMDB. Fans may have also spotted him in the action series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, where he played Ali in the show's first season.
In the 2021 movie Eternals, Sleiman played the husband of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first gay superhero, Phastos. He spoke about the role and the importance of representation as an openly gay man himself.
“Beyond a dream come true, it’s lifesaving,” he told Variety in 2021. “I wish I had that when I was a kid, to see this. My god. I wish! Can you imagine how many lives this is going to be saving — kids, young queer folks, who are being bullied, committing suicide and not seeing themselves as represented? And now they get to see this — it’s above and beyond.”
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After Haddad was arrested for manslaughter in Raymond’s death, he was represented in the controversial case by defense attorney Ron Delahunt, who's been in the courtroom on Law & Order before. Delahunt, who previously appeared in Season 23, is played by veteran actor Alimi Ballard.
What other projects has Alimi Ballard been in?
Ballard, who's been working as an actor for about three decades, got his big break in 1993 playing the character Frankie Hubbard in the soap opera Loving. He later portrayed that same character in the soap The City, according to IMDB.
From there, he went on to appear as Quizmaster Albert in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Herbal Thought in Dark Angel, David Sinclair in Numb3rs, and Det. Kevin Crawford on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Ballard has also had guest starring roles on popular series like NYPD Blue, American Dreams, Rizzoli & Isles, Drop Dead Diva, Castle, Bones, S.W.A.T., and The Rookie. Recently, he played the role of Kevin Clay in Peacock’s One of Us is Lying, which ran for two seasons in 2021 and 2011.
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The "Enemy of the State" episode of Law & Order also featured guest star appearances from Brian Hutchinson, who played FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Merrill, an outspoken opponent of the prosecution’s decision to charge Haddad. Hutchinson has previously appeared in Chicago Med, Lisey’s Story, The Sinner, The Equalizer, FBI: Most Wanted, and Blue Bloods. He also played the part of Alan in both the 2018 Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band, and in a 2020 movie version of that play.
Rounding out the episode’s guest stars was Josh Hooks, who played Luke Bragg, a men’s rights activist and boxer. The actor has previously appeared on the true crime anthology series American Crime Story, as well as on series like Swagger and Will Trent.
To keep up with all the Season 24 action, watch Law & Order on Thursday nights at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream episodes when they arrive on Peacock.
