ATHLEISURE MAG #90 JUNE ISSUE | WHERE'S THE LINE Sepideh Moafi

This month we caught up with Sepideh Moafi who embodies her characters and really makes us see the world through her eyes and the storylines that they are involved in where it's thrillers such as USA's Falling Water, dramas that include HBO's The Deuce and Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q, and shows that look at our relationship with technology and who has the power to use them in our lives in her latest limited series, FX Class of '09!

You can currently binge the entire season of 8 episodes now on Hulu which looks at a group of FBI agents as we see them going through the academy in the past, in their present day in their career and in the future. We wanted to know more about how Sepideh came to being an actor, how she approaches her roles, and her thoughts on the paradigm between technology and humans intervention and those who decide how this is instituted.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you realize you wanted to be an actor?

SEPIDEH MOAFI: I think I was about 23. I graduated from San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a Vocal Performance major at 21 and had started my career as an opera singer. While opera was (and still is) my first passion and finding my voice as a singer completely changed my life, I was becoming more and more curious about theater and exploring the full potential of characters without having to worry about hitting that high C, for example. I enrolled in a straight acting class with Bobby Weinapple in San Francisco (he taught an acting for singers class that I had taken at the conservatory) and he said I had “it”, whatever “it” means. I decided to audition for some plays and started booking roles like Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and Luisa in The Fantasticks, so I decided to apply to grad school on a whim and ended up getting a full scholarship plus grants to UC Irvine’s MFA Acting program. So I went.

AM: I have been a fan of your work fromNotorious, Falling Water, The Deuce, The L Word: Generation Q, and currently The Class of 09! You always play characters that are dynamic and continue to reveal themselves in various ways. What are you looking for when you decide that you want to play a character?

SM: Thank you for your kind words. I think the reasons for taking on a part have changed for me throughout the years. I was more character driven before, now I think I’m more story driven. At first I was just so eager to do anything I could get my hands on. I even loved getting to play characters who seemed pretty two dimensional on the page because that meant I got to find the things that many people may overlook or miss and bring all of the complexity and nuance and heart to these characters and make them feel like full, multi dimensional human beings. Taking on any character allows you to gain insight and empathy for a range of personality types — people that are similar to you, people who think completely different from you — you get to explore a variety of career paths and life choices that maybe you’ve never imagined before. Acting is a beautiful way to explore humanity and empathy, and I feel so lucky to be able to learn and grow so much from my work.

I fortunately haven’t had to deal with typecasting; most of the characters I’ve played both on stage and screen are completely different from one another and their racial backgrounds aren’t necessarily specified. I remember having a long conversation with Remi Aubuchon (24, Stargate Universe, Silo), the show runner for Falling Water after I got cast. He gave me the choice to change my character’s last name (Alex Simms) to an Iranian last name if I felt compelled. I thought about this deeply. Representation is so important, but I kept asking myself if it would be more impactful to change her name to say, Alex Mohammadi or keep it as Alex Simms. I spoke to friends who encouraged me to change the name to a Persian last name, but my mom's words echoed those in my gut.

She said I should keep it as it is because we need to be able to separate our judgements and assumptions about who a person is, their background and what they look like based on their name. So I kept her name Alex Simms.

Something that has changed is that the more political I’ve become and the more humanitarian work I’ve done throughout the last decade, the more important it has become for me to be part of projects that I feel align with my politics and core belief system. We need healthy, accurate stories and representation of women, the LGBTQIA+ community, people from the SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) region, and all marginalized communities but not with a superficial, checkbox approach to diversity. My face on screen makes a statement whether I like it or not, so I’d rather take control of that to make statements I can get behind. It’s important that whatever project I decide to do doesn’t play into toxic narratives about marginalized people and doesn’t veer from the kinds of stories and representation I want to support and think we need more of.

AM: How do you approach getting into character to bring their authenticity forward?

SM: I think different characters require diff kinds of preparation. For example, for Lauren McCauley in Black Bird, I spent a good two months doing research by reading, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, reviewing documents from the real life case, speaking to various FBI agents on a regular basis, and reading the script every day. I quickly discovered that there’s no way in hell I could be an FBI agent in real life (I find it too difficult to control my emotions!), so the extensive research helped me acquire the confidence I needed to step into her shoes. Dennis Lehane’s (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Bloodline) brilliant script gave me everything I needed to play her, the research just helped me gain the confidence I needed in order to embody her truthfully. For Gigi in The L Word: Generation Q, I did speak to a few of my real estate agent buddies to gain some insight into her day to day work life, but that was kind of the extent of the research. I think every character prep is different. I remember doing so much prep work for Niki in The Killing of Two Lovers but once I got to set with our director Robert Machoian (Mother Mother, Strong Enough, The Foundry) and opposite actors Clayne Crawford (CSI, 24, Graceland), Chris Coy (The Deuce, The Peripheral, Accused) and the kids, I felt like all that prep went out the window. One could argue the prep was there as my foundation but I honestly felt like I was in a trance for the entirety of that shoot. The energy on set was abundant and infectious; we were like animals in the jungle playing with abandon. No matter what, I always start with the words in the script and my gut response to them. From there, I identify the tone, the world in which the character lives (their socioeconomic status, their relationship to their ethnicity and background, their gender, etc.) and that usually informs what type of work and research is needed. My only goal is to give all of myself to every role. If by the end of a film or show or play there’s still something in the tank, I haven’t done my job.

AM: What drew you to want to be involved in Class of '09 and what do you think about the past, present and future format of the show?

SM: There are a number of reasons why I was drawn to this show. The character being able to explore the breadth of anyone’s life over the span of multiple decades is a fascinating, eye and heart opening endeavor. This character, Hour, specifically being from a family that had to flee Iran felt resonant to me and her constant grappling with the dilemma of identity and belonging. The themes of the show — exploring AI, technology, surveillance, the fragility of humanity, and this dance between security and liberty. And lastly the cast, I felt very lucky to be able to have this unique experience with some of my favorite actors and human beings. We formed life long bonds (we’re still constantly texting on our group text!)

AM: We've been watching this every week and really enjoy seeing how everyone is connected with one another and how they evolve over various periods of time. What are the takeaways that you want viewers to walk away with after watching this series?

SM: Class of ‘09 is a limited series so the story is contained within eight episodes. But I hope this encourages the audience to probe at these deeper questions around the nature of security, surveillance, and willingly or unwillingly living in a technocracy. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers, said “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” We are seeing increasing manifestations of major technological companies abusing their power with impunity and stealing our identities for profit. We’ve seen fuller expressions of this abuse in countries like China, Russia, Israel. We must always remember that our elected officials work for us and we cannot forget that it is our job to hold our elected officials and these major corporations accountable so that we don’t continue on this fast track towards a surveillance state.

AM: Are there upcoming projects that you're working on that you would like to share that we should keep an eye out for?

SM: Yes! There’s a film coming out called I’ll Be Right There with Edie Falco (The Sopranos, Impeachment: American Crime Story, Avatar: the Way of Water), Jeannie Berlin (The Night Of, Succession, The Fablemans), and Bradley Whitford (The West Wing, The Handmaids Tale, Get Out). I actually had the chance to work with Edie on one of my first jobs after getting my MFA. I booked a guest star role on Nurse Jackie a couple of months out of school and I flipped out because Edie was one of the reasons I decided to pursue acting. I remember telling myself to wait until the end of the episode with her to confess how big of a fan I was. I lasted about three hours before I exploded into tears and gushed about how much I loved and admired her. I felt like I totally humiliated myself but she was (and still is) one of the most gracious, humble, down to earth actors I’ve ever met. I’m part of an HBO Max animated series called Scavengers Reign coming out later this year too. I’ve wanted to be part of an animated project my entire life so this was one of those moments where the kid in me couldn’t believe it. Aside from that, there are a couple of other projects I’m developing, but I start work on a film called Wild Berries which will actually be my first Persian language speaking film, opposite award-winning Iranian actor Shahab Hosseini (The Salesman, Residents of Nowhere, Nargesi). It’s pretty much a two-hander so I’m very excited to dive into this world with Shahab and our director Soudabeh Moradian (Polaris, The Anber Thief, In Between).

IG @sepidehmoafi

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | PG 98 + 101 9LIST STORI3S, PG 128 + PG 131 FX/Class of 09