Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad, Oppenheimer and Dune actor David Dastmalchian has been creating fascinating characters on screen for more than a decade, but 2025 proved to be a banner year for the 50-year-old Pennsylvania native.

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Here are five unmissable performances from the star this year.

'Dexter: Resurrection' -- Paramount+

A central storyline for the New York-set, Dexter sequel series centers on billionaire philanthropist Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage), who is secretly an avid true-crime artifact collector who pays notorious killers -- including Dastmalchian's twin Gemini murderers, Lady Vengeance (Krysten Ritter), Al/Rapunzel (Eric Stonestreet), Lowell/the Tattoo Collector (Neil Patrick Harris) and the Dark Passenger, whom Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is impersonating -- to visit his posh apartment for dinner and regale him with salacious tales.

Dastmalchian has described his characters as a mix of Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye and Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.

'Murderbot' -- Apple TV

In the screen adaptation of Martha Wells' novella, Alexander Skarsgaard plays the titular, partly organic, security unit cyborg, which overrides its "obey" function and thinking for itself as it is assigned while guarding a group of free-spirited scientists led by Mensah (Noma Dumezweni) and Gurathin (Dastmalchian), an augmented human.

"Though he is a human, he has a portal so he can connect to data through computer systems both through Bluetooth technology and through cables," Dastmalchian told UPI.

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"He is an analyzer, a data analytic specialist. He's able to process large streams of data and store data and run it through his computation, so he's on the lookout for any anomalies, always on the lookout for making sure everything stays straight in alignment," the actor added. "He's very, what we would call, 'Type A.'"

'The Life of Chuck' -- DVD, Video-on-Demand

Dastmalchian plays a grieving father in this critically acclaimed film adaptation of Stephen King's novella from The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan.

The movie stars Tom Hiddleston as an ordinary man who seems to be causing the world to end. It also features Matthew Lillard, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan and Mark Hamill.

'Dust Bunny' -- In theaters now

Written and directed by Hannibal and Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller, the family film follows Aurora (Sophie Sloan), an 8-year-old girl who hires her nameless hit-man neighbor from Apartment 5B (Mads Mikkelsen) to slay the monster under her bed that she believes killed her parents.

Dastmalchian plays someone whose help the assassin seeks as he tries to keep her safe.

Sigourney Weaver and Rebecca Henderson co-star.

'The Boulet Brothers: Dragula Titans'Season 2 -- AMC and Shudder)

Dastmalchian also found time to serve as a guest judge on the reality competition series, which featured 14 drag queens vying for the title "Queen of the Underworld" and a $100,000 grand prize.

In the ninth and final episode, Jaharia was crowned the winner.

Other guest judges this season include Jennifer Tilly, Katie Siegel, Don Mancini and Todd McFarlane.

2026 projects

Dastmalchian run continues in 2026, with roles in Netflix's live-action pirate adventure, One Piece and the film Street Fighter, based on the iconic video game.