The Pitt’s Sepideh Moafi Recalls First Agent Telling Her to Change Her Name to Get Acting Roles | Just Jared: Celebrity News and Gossip
Sepideh Moafi shared her experience with her first agent urging a name change to improve acting opportunities, highlighting challenges faced by actors with ethnic names.
- The Pitt star Sepideh Moafi revealed her first agent pressured her to change her name early in her career, a request she immediately rejected to preserve her identity.
- Moafi, whose parents immigrated as Iranian refugees, described the decision to keep her name as "complicated," while expressing no judgment toward actors who choose different paths for career advancement.
- Instead of changing her name, the actress booked her first job and built a "beautiful varied career," while observing that naming pressure is systemic for women and people of color across fields.
- Currently, Moafi stars as Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi on the hit series The Pitt, with previous roles spanning The Good Wife, The Blacklist, and The Deuce throughout her established career.
- Conflict between Moafi's character and Michael Robby Robinavitch on the show mirrors real-life dynamics for women, reflecting what she identified as a systemic "patriarchal lens" in positions of power.
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11 Articles
Natalie Portman isn't actually called Natalie Portman and Jamie Foxx isn't Jamie Foxx: Numerous actors change their name for the career. Sepideh Moafi should also follow the example. Now she explains her rejection.
'The Pitt' Star Sepideh Moafi Says First Agent Told Her to Change Her Name to Get Roles
“The Pitt” star Sepideh Moafi was asked to change her name by her first agent, she told People in an interview published Sunday. “When I graduated from grad school, my first agent wanted me to change my name and I immediately said, f–k no,” she revealed. Moafi added, “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 …
Sepideh Moafi Told First Agent "F*ck No" To Changing Name
Although Season 2 fans of The Pitt will recognize Sepideh Moafi’s name, she was faced with changing it early in her career. The actress, whose parents came to the US as Iranian refugees before she was born, opened up about the “complicated” decision for actors after her first agent tried to convince her to change […]
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