Sepideh Moafi in ‘The Pitt’ season 2.
Credit: Warrick Page/HBOMAX
NEED TO KNOW
Sepideh Moafi tells PEOPLE that her first agent advised her to change her name in order to get acting roles after she graduated from an MFA program in 2013
“My first agent wanted me to change my name and I immediately said, f— no,” says the actress, who is currently starring in The Pitt season 2
She has also held main roles in The Deuce, The L Word: Generation Q and Black Bird
Sepideh Moafi stayed true to herself on her journey to Hollywood.
The actress, 40, tells PEOPLE that her first agent advised her to change her name in order to get acting roles after she graduated from an MFA program at University of California Irvine in 2013.
“When I graduated from grad school, my first agent wanted me to change my name and I immediately said, f— no,” says Moafi, who is currently starring in The Pitt season 2.
Sepideh Moafi attends the 80th Annual Golden Globes on Jan. 10, 2023 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“I know actors who have changed their names and there’s no judgment there. And I know a lot of actors, specifically people of color, who have been expected to change their name and haven’t,” she continues.
The actress notes that the decision for one to change their name is “complicated,” saying, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people who decide to do it.”
As for her own experience, she says, “It felt like they needed me to be someone different in order to work or to sell something. I refused. I continued, and I ended up booking my first job and then my second and third, and having a beautiful varied career as a result.”
While Moafi acknowledges that it’s a personal choice whether one changes their name, she adds, “I hope anyone who makes that choice makes it for themselves and not because they feel like they need to change who they are in order to be more universally palatable.”
Before the actress landed her role in the hit medical drama, she had a guest spot in Blue Bloods and lead roles in The Deuce, The L Word: Generation Q and Black Bird.
Sepideh Moafi and Greg Kinnear in ‘Black Bird.’
Credit: Everett
Moafi also speaks about the challenges her character, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, faces in The Pitt. The tech-loving attending physician is brought in to replace Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch on his planned three-month sabbatical.
While working on the same 15-hour shift, the two repeatedly clash over their differing work styles. At one point, Al-Hashimi calls Robby out for not treating her as his equal.
“That moment is so relatable for any woman in any field in positions, and particularly in positions of power,” she says.
“Unfortunately, it’s not just the norm with our male counterparts. It’s sort of ingrained on a systemic level and sometimes infects other women in positions of power. We have this patriarchal lens and some women think they need to maintain these rather patriarchal norms to uphold and exist within the system,” Moafi continues.
(L-R) Noah Wyle, Katherine LaNasa and Sepideh Moafi in ‘The Pitt’ season 2.
Credit: Warrick Page/HBO Max
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Looking back, the actress describes the season as “kind of cathartic.”
“As the actor inside of Dr. Al-Hashimi, I felt like I was voicing something that was so much bigger than that moment,” she says.
New episodes of The Pitt season 2 air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.
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