Abbas Sharhani: Iranian Refugee Makes New Life As Michael Jackson Impersonator [Video]
Abbas Sharhani had never heard of Michael Jackson, until the Iranian refugee landed on Australian soil. While in a Darwin refugee detention center, a friend told him he resembled the King of Pop, and he now makes a living impersonating Michael Jackson.
In the video above, Sharhani tells of his grueling travels as an asylum seeker, looking for a safe place to live.
The asylum seeker making a new life as a Michael Jackson impersonator http://t.co/x8Ioa4MazN via @smh pic.twitter.com/kRHRvShFtK
— Garry Maddox (@gmaddox) August 12, 2015
It turns out the King of Pop was unknown in the south of Iran where Sharhani was a member of the minority Ahwaz community. Due to conditions there, Sharhani fled the country at the age of 16, leaving his family behind.
He traveled by plane to Malaysia and then Indonesia, after which he went by boat to Christmas Island. Sharhani said the boat was small, with 50 people aboard, and the journey took three days.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that it was when Sharhani settled into the detention center in Australia for three months that he found out all about Michael Jackson. A friend of his family, who was also in the detention center, told him of the similarity, saying he looked like Jackson when he was still young and black.
Iranian refugee who had never heard of Michael Jackson now impersonates him: Abbas Sharhani was told he looked… http://t.co/x39CegKR18 — milenio 2052 (@Milenio2052) August 13, 2015
After finding out that he resembled MJ so much, and while watching music videos by the King of Pop, Sharhani became fascinated with everything Michael Jackson.
“I just loved him so much.”
“I said to myself ‘I just want to be that guy’.”
According to the Daily Mail, once Sharhani was released from detention and living in Warwick Farm, south-west of Sydney, he started to research everything about the King of Pop.
He then started making a living, dancing first in the streets and then at clubs that would pay him to perform, as so many people love Michael Jackson.
He decided to take things even further by first straightening his hair and then having plastic surgery to change his appearance, in order to look even more like the King of Pop.
“I showed the doctor photos of him, and said that is what I want to look like.”
It turned out the doctor was also a big MJ fan and knew exactly what he wanted. Sharhani saved money from his various performances to pay for the plastic surgery on his nose.
Meet the Iranian refugee making a new life as a Michael Jackson impersonator. http://t.co/NairXdGXJb via @smharts pic.twitter.com/9ypp9K9Q6s
— smharts (@smharts) August 12, 2015
Now 20 years old, Sharhani now continues to enjoy making a living, impersonating the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, and doing it pretty well too.
In other news on the Inquisitr relating to Michael Jackson, his daughter Paris, now 17 years of age, was seen recently with a hunky new boyfriend.
[Image: Facebook]
