Vachik Mangassarian, Actor From Agents of SHIELD and Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dies at 78

Vachik Mangassarian, an actor with credits in Agents of SHIELD and Curb Your Enthusiasm, has passed away. According to his management at McCaffrey Talent (via Deadline), Mangassarian died Saturday as a result of complications from COVID-19. He was 78.

On Agents of SHIELD, Mangassarian played a character named Qasim Zaghlul, a wealthy businessman with an association with the villainous Ian Quinn (David Conrad). Mangassarian appeared in guest roles on Curb and NCIS: Los Angeles. His most prominent role, however, came in Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M., the recipient of an NAACP Image Award and various awards at the Los Angeles and Ghent film festivals.

Born in Iran in 1943, Mangassarian traveled to the United States in the mid-1960s and worked various theater jobs. He managed to land his first film role in 1978’s The South’s Shark and a handful of guest roles on television through the 1980s and 1990s. Credits on his resume include The A-Team, Murder, She Wrote, JAG, Murphy Brown, and NYPD Blue amongst others.

He acted through much of the 2010s before retiring in 2019. He last role came during an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Survivors include sisters Linda Lalaian and Elda Hacopian, nephews Derek Hacopian and Ara Hacopian, and niece Aida Hacopian.