Bashir Salahuddin is an American actor, writer, and comedian. Salahuddin was born and raised in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. His father is originally from Panama and had moved to Chicago with his family when he was a child. His mother grew up on the West Side of Chicago. They met when they both were students at Southern Illinois University and converted to Islam in the early 1970s. His parents divorced in the early 2000s. Salahuddin grew up with three brothers and two sisters and has two younger siblings from his father\'s second marriage. Salahuddin\'s father worked as an airplane mechanic for Midway Airlines at Chicago Midway International Airport. As family members of an airline employee, the family was able to fly on many stand-by trips across the U.S. He credits his father with instilling in him what he refers to as the \"immigrant work ethic\".