Sepideh Moafi’s first agent told her to change her name. She said no. Now she’s starring in “The Pitt” Season 2.
Okay, so if you haven’t been paying attention to The Pitt yet, you’re already behind. But here’s a name you need to lock in right now: Sepideh Moafi.
Because she just said something in an interview with PEOPLE magazine that’s way more honest than most actors ever get.
Her first agent — the person literally hired to get her work — told her to change her name. To change her name. And Moafi, fresh out of grad school, looked that agent dead in the face and said, “F— no.”
That’s not just talk. That’s a young actress, early career, zero leverage, turning down the one person who’s supposed to open doors for her. Most people in that position fold. Not gonna lie, the industry has a long history of making actors — especially actors of color — feel like their actual identity is a liability.
Moafi called that out directly to PEOPLE, saying she knows “a lot of actors, specifically people of color, who have been expected to change their name and haven’t.” She wasn’t vague about it.
She wasn’t vague about it.She didn’t soften it at all. Didn’t try to.
She kept the name. Booked her first job anyway. Then her second. Then her third.
And now she’s playing Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi on The Pitt Season 2 — stepping in as the attending physician meant to hold things down while Noah Wyle’s character is off on sabbatical. That’s not a background role. That’s a character the whole season leans on.
Her résumé already had The Deuce, The L Word: Generation Q, and Black Bird on it. The career she built by refusing to rebrand herself? It’s stacked.
Here’s where it gets interesting — this interview lands right as The Pitt Season 2 is ramping up visibility. Moafi isn’t just promoting a show. She’s telling her own story out loud, in front of a way bigger audience than before.
The question is whether Hollywood actually learns anything. Or whether some other young actress with an “unpronounceable” name is sitting across from an agent right now hearing the same tired pitch.
The agent who told Sepideh Moafi to change her name probably doesn’t even remember that conversation. That’s the most messed up part. To them it was just business advice. To her, it was a test of who she was willing to be. She passed. They didn’t. And now she’s on one of the hottest shows on TV with her real name in the credits. So who made the smarter call?
