The Pitt<\/a>. After all, her first day at work was also Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi\u2019s orientation to Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. She is a welcome addition to the orchestral harmony that makes the hour-by-hour format of our favorite Emmy-winning medical show so enjoyable to watch, even amid broken bones and poop explosions. \u201cI got to enter and introduce a different melody into this cacophony of tunes,\u201d she tells The Cut. \u201cI was most intimidated by the fact that I was the only cast member entering the show as a senior doctor. It\u2019s not like I can mess up or look like I\u2019m not competent.\u201d<\/p>\nMoafi was first an opera singer before trying out theater, eventually appearing on David Simon and George Pelecanos\u2019s sex-work drama The Deuce and The L Word: Generation Q. Similarly, The Pitt\u2019s juicy story lines that intersect with social and political identity were a major draw for Sepideh. \u201cA hospital, by its very nature, is a convergence of all different points of society,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Coming from Veteran Affairs, Al-Hashimi is a more buttoned-up foil to Dr. Robby, encouraging residents to use (often inaccurate) AI to speed up the charting process. In brief moments, we can see that there\u2019s something bubbling beneath the surface with Al-Hashimi. We don\u2019t yet know what it is, but it\u2019s heavy enough that Sepideh refused to bring the character with her when she left set for the day after filming. \u201cLater in the season, there are more intense scenes, and it was the first time where I did a green light\/red light thing, where I was on and off,\u201d she explains. \u201cTaking care of myself \u2014 physically, mentally, and spiritually \u2014 was really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
After your role on The Deuce, it seems like you\u2019ve been interested in political projects. Do you see that as a through-line in your career?
There\u2019s a common thread here. The Deuce is a blatant exploration of the commodification of sex and pornography and this intersection of women navigating systems that are not built for them, women who are subjugated, who are prevented from breaking out of the system. It\u2019s very different on The Pitt, but it\u2019s a similar thing where my character is having to navigate a system that is not built for her. And there are so many early judgments despite her level of competency and expertise; she\u2019s always second-guessed and questioned and undercut. I would be curious to see if she were a man how people would respond.<\/p>\n
We must talk about Dr. Al-Hashimi\u2019s Lululemon jacket \u2014 it\u2019s her version of Dr. Robby\u2019s hoodie! How did it resonate with your idea of the character?
Lyn Paolo, our costume designer, was the one who introduced it, and it makes sense. All of our scrubs are by FIGS, but my collar is different, more structured. I felt like it matched. I see her as somebody who wakes up at 4 a.m., has her juice and does Pilates, reads the news, then goes to work. So the jacket fits in with this idea of the \u201con the go\u201d worker who is always stylish and keeping herself put-together and looking presentable. If she wanted to, she could just show up and have a drink in that look, you know? It has a fluid use.<\/p>\n
If you had a choice, would you wear it again for another season?
I think I\u2019d like to stay within a similar vein, but I\u2019d be down to get rid of the Lululemon jacket. But I\u2019m obsessed with her collar line. I love that little detail and her jewelry. In the character breakdown, it said she\u2019s very put-together and there\u2019s not a hair out of place. I thought they\u2019d want my hair straight, but they wanted it curly \u2026 I\u2019m like, good luck having no hair out of place with this. We accomplished that look with all the other details: the small gold hoops, the chain-link necklace, the Oura ring, the APL shoes. Everything is slightly elevated with her, so I\u2019d like to keep that for next season.<\/p>\n
Getting into our Taste Test: Where do you get your best culture recommendations from?
It\u2019s not a single source! I love The New Yorker, but not to throw shade, it\u2019s often told from a very sort of Anglo, white lens on culture and art. I have my Black and brown community, so it depends on what kind of culture I\u2019m seeking. As soon as I get to New York, I reach out to my buddies who are Broadway actors and whose opinions I really value and cherish. It\u2019s a hodgepodge of different friends and magazines, and I try to collect as much information. I have, like, 40 different notebooks; I have raging ADHD. So I keep my culture notebook nearby for any time I see or hear something. I write it down and hopefully revisit it.<\/p>\n
Which celebrities, dead or alive, would you invite to a dinner party?\u00a0
I\u2019d invite James Baldwin. Forugh Farrokhzad, a radical mid-century feminist Iranian poet. This is a woman who, in the 1950s, was writing about sex in Iran. She was brilliant and she became a filmmaker as well. She died at age 32, gone too soon. I was and technically still am an opera singer, and Maria Callas was my first inspiration. She\u2019s intense, but I feel like I could take it. This one is silly, but Harpo Marx. I just want to watch him move and feel his heart and wit. And, finally, I never got to meet my grandfathers. I would love to spend time with them. It would be all these different languages and backgrounds; Maria waxing lyrical about Puccini while Baldwin smokes a cigarette. I actually want to dream about this tonight.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the last meal you cooked for dinner?
The last thing was a simple chicken-with-vegetables improv situation. I was coming from L.A., so it was the vegetables that were still in the fridge. I just tried to mix everything we had and create a nice little stir-fry. That\u2019s kind of where I thrive, the improv in the kitchen. Give me three ingredients like I\u2019m on Chopped, and I\u2019ll go to town. It makes you think outside the box for the traditional dishes. I learned from my mom: You cook spaghetti together with the sauce, and then you add cinnamon and salt for a nice flair. I worked in restaurants for a very long time, so I think about the flavors that I love and try to find them or mimic them in whatever I make.<\/p>\n
What is your pre-filming ritual on The Pitt?
The ritual starts early. I usually wake up and do some kind of movement, whether it\u2019s rebounding, a vibration plate, or a walking pad to move my body, to shake me and my energy up. And then a bit of stretching and myofascial release. As I\u2019m sure you noticed, there\u2019s something very still and not rigid, but contained, about my character.<\/p>\n
Once I go to the studio, I sit in my room and I write. Sometimes I just listen to music or a podcast. I have the season laid out from episode one to the end, with all my traumas and patients, all of the patients that are already gone, and where I am physically, mentally, emotionally. You can ask anyone from The Pitt: By month three, you\u2019re starting to feel the weight of the day naturally. So you don\u2019t need to add to that. It\u2019s not like I need to go in a corner and think about much. You\u2019re already carrying a lot.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your comfort rewatch?
The Sopranos. I share a birthday with James Gandolfini! The work he did with Edie Falco shook something in me. Anytime I feel untethered in my work, I always go back to The Sopranos. It\u2019s not even about watching the show itself, it\u2019s about getting in touch with that girl, 15 years ago or whatever, when I first started this, and finding her hand and holding onto that and being like, Yeah, we\u2019re still inspired and lit up in the same way. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your favorite game to play?
I love Bananagrams. I love Monopoly Deal, a horrible capitalist game, but it\u2019s so fun. And I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s an American game or if it\u2019s a Persian thing, but it\u2019s called Crazy Rummy. Anytime I\u2019m with my family, that\u2019s the game. My parents will play for days on end. I remember I was visiting them, and I\u2019m a tango dancer, so I went out to go dance. I came home at around 4:30 in the morning and they were still playing.<\/p>\n
Worst thing to do at a dinner party?
This is really gross. I\u2019m sorry, please don\u2019t judge me. I was just thinking about either projectile vomiting or sharting. Then it\u2019s like, you\u2019ve contaminated all the food, nobody wants to eat. It\u2019s just a disaster.<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taste Test What is \u201cgood taste\u201d anyway? Allow your favorite actor, musician, celebrity, or comedian to let you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,569,75,2977,1901,151942,1788,38553,348],"class_list":["post-471002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-culture","tag-entertainment","tag-interviews","tag-qa","tag-taste-test","tag-television","tag-the-pitt","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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