“The Pit” Season 2 star Sepideh Moafi recently told People that his first agent asked him to change his name so he could get more roles.
“When I finished graduate school, my first agent asked me to change my name, and I immediately said, ‘No way,'” she recalled. “I know actors who have changed their names, and there’s no judgment in that. And I know many actors, especially people of color, who were expected to change their names and didn’t.”
She explained that the decision to change a name is “complicated” for anyone, adding: “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with anyone deciding to do that.”
For herself, Moafi said, “They felt like I needed to be a different person in order to do the work and sell something. I said no. I kept going. And I ended up booking my first job, then my second, and then my third. As a result, I’ve had a beautiful and varied career.”
In Season 2 of The Pit, Moafi will play Dr. Baran Al Hashimi, the doctor who replaces Noah Wyle’s Dr. Michael Robinavich while he is away on sabbatical. Her other TV credits include “The Deuce,” “The L Word: Generation Q” and “Black Bird.”
