• Fahim Fazli's screen career was beginning to take off, with roles in blockbusters like Iron Man, when the Afghan-born actor decided it was time to give back to the country that had taken him in after he fled Russian occupation a quarter century earlier. Fazli, in New Hampshire last week for a book signing for Fahim Speaks: A Warrior-Actor's Odyssey from Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back, went to work as a translator for the U.S. Marines in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It was a U.S. Marine who had helped Fazli track down his mother, who escaped Afghanistan in 1980, and put his family back together. His work in Afghanistan helped the 48-year-old Fazli develop his career, especially in war flicks and, he freely admits, playing a Middle Eastern terrorist. He had a role in the Oscar-winning film Argo and recently finished filming American Sniper under Clint Eastwood's direction. With wavy black hair, a thick beard, dark complexion and intense eyes, he can convey pure menace when he shuts off his easy smile. But he doesn't mind being typecast. "I want to introduce all those close-minded [people] who have hijacked the religion and become a sociopath," he said. "The reason I'm doing this is to show them how evil they are being a terrorist. And I enjoy it. I like to introduce their real colors."

• A Texas girl who survived a recent attack in which her parents and four siblings were killed has drawn the attention of Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling. Rowling's publicist, Rebecca Salt, confirmed Friday that the British writer sent a letter and package to 15-year-old Cassidy Stay, but she declined to describe their contents, saying it was a private matter. Stay was the only member of her immediate family to survive the July 9 attack at their home in the Houston suburb of Spring. Despite a gunshot wound to her head, she spoke a few days later at a public gathering at a neighborhood school and paraphrased a quote by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the series. "Happiness can be found even in darkest of times, if one remembers to turn on the light," Stay said. Stay survived by playing dead as her parents and four younger siblings -- Bryan, 13; Emily, 9; Rebecca, 6; and Zach, 4 -- were gunned down. She then called police and identified the gunman as her aunt's ex-husband, Ronald Lee Haskell.

A Section on 08/11/2014