MJ

Mercedes "MJ" Javid
Javid is a real estate agent living in the Hollywood Hills. She was born in 1972. With a voluptuous figure, MJ grew up conscious of her weight and was put on diet pills by a physician at age 14 in order to try to lose extra pounds, though she later quit them. MJ and her mother have a very difficult relationship and argue frequently on the show. MJ and her father however, are very close. She works with Reza at Keller Williams Realty. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from California State University, Northridge in 2002. During the Season 2 reunion, Javid admitted she is a felon, having been convicted of bank fraud in 1994. Shahs of Sunset is an American reality television series that airs on Bravo.The series debuted on March 11, 2012.The series follows a group of Iranian American friends living in Beverly Hills (and the greater area known as "Tehrangeles"), who are trying to juggle their active social lives and up-and-coming careers while balancing the demands of their families and traditions.It is the second American reality television show about Iranians after E!'s Love Is in the Heir in 2004. Shahs of Sunset had been renewed for a third season, which premiered on November 5, 2013.The fourth season will premiere in late 2014.

Before the show debuted, there was concern among the Persian-American diaspora that Shahs of Sunset would promote an unwelcome image at a particularly tense historical moment. Firoozeh Dumas, author of Funny in Farsi, worried that "Americans have a chance to see a slice of materialistic, shallow and downright embarrassing Iranian culture. I just want to shout, 'We are not all like that!'" Two-time Mayor of Beverly Hills, Jimmy Delshad, voiced concerns that instead of showcasing the professional class of doctors, lawyers and business executives, the show would "take us back and make us look like undesirable people." Iranian American Novelist Porochista Khakpour took issue with the cast's self-description as "Persian" rather than "Iranian", but otherwise found the show to be just another reality television show in the "been-there-done-that Kardashian-Real-Housewives-Jersey Shore mash-up" with characters that reminded her of elements in those she grew up with in the diaspora.

In response to criticism producer Ryan Seacrest dismissed the notion the series would cast the community in a bad light, describing the show as simply "escapism" that is "meant to be entertaining and fun." The president of Bravo described the cast members as representative of what the channel deems "affluencers:" 30-something, upscale, highly educated and influential."

The members of the cast have stated that they portray a more Americanized and modern version of Persians than those depicted in such films as 2012's Argo, where Iranians are depicted in ways they felt made them "savages" or "homeless people." Mike Shouhed has commented that the show's producers sometimes add to the confusion by using Arabic music on the show; Reza Farahan has received mistaken feedback complimenting Arab American culture.