Erick Avari was born on 13 April 1952 in Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, into a Parsi Zoroastrian family.

Avari has appeared with Brent Spiner in three different productions: Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Independence Day (1996), and The Master of Disguise (2002).

Avari was scheduled to reprise his role as Kasuf in the Stargate SG-1 Season Six finale "Full Circle", but was unable to do so due to his commitment to Dragnet (2003).

In January 2009, he played a mobile-phone salesman in Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and in October 2009, he was cast as Omar on Days of Our Lives.

In 2014, Avari voiced Master Rahool in the science fiction video game Destiny, a role he reprised in a sequel.