Former Cowboys cheerleader Sarah Shahi named ‘TV’s sexiest star’ by Maxim

By Guide Live Group
Dallas News
September 10, 2012

Former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and Euless native Sarah Shahi is Maxim’s October cover model, having been declared “TV’s Sexiest Star” by the men’s magazine.

Shahi, 32, is the star of in the USA drama Fairly Legal, which wrapped up its second season in June. She plays Kate Reed, an unconventional mediator who holds the broken legal system in contempt.

She talked to Maxim about her time as a Cowboys cheerleader: “Everyone knew I wanted to be an actress, so they said, ‘Why don’t you try out for the Cowboys Cheerleaders?’ because back in 1995 they were on Saturday Night Live. So I figured that could be my way in; I tried out just to get on SNL.”

That cheerleading gig led her into an acting career, according to a 2011 interview with Dallas Morning News freelancer David Martindale. She met director Robert Altman, who was using the Cowboys cheerleader rehearsal facilities to shoot a movie, and “he took me under his wing and explained a few things to me. One day he asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, ‘I want to be an actress.’ He said, ‘Then you should move to LA. I think you have what it takes.’ And that’s what I did.”

Not a bad call, since Shahi has landed quite a few prominent supporting roles, including in The Sopranos and Old School, and starring roles in Showtime’s The L Word and NBC’s well-regarded but short-lived police drama, Life, before getting the lead role in Fairly Legal.

Another tidbit from the Maxim interview: Before becoming a Cowboys cheerleader, she admits that she wasn’t much of a Cowboys fan. “You know, I never really paid attention to sports, which, coming from the mecca of football in Texas, is kind of odd,” she admitted.