{"id":1156702,"date":"2026-08-19T02:20:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1156702\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T02:20:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T02:20:25","slug":"the-pitts-sepideh-moafi-will-be-running-a-tight-ship-in-season-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1156702\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Pitt’s Sepideh Moafi Will Be \u201cRunning A Tight Ship\u201d In Season 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBeing the first woman of Middle Eastern descent to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the supporting actress category is still something Sepideh Moafi<\/a> is wrapping her head around. \u201cMy life story is crazy,\u201d says the Iranian-American actress<\/a>, who was born in a refugee camp in Germany after her parents escaped the Islamic Revolution. \u201cThings could have shaped up in a very different way for me and my family.\u201d To receive the accolade for playing Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi<\/a>, the new attending physician in the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, or \u2018The Pitt<\/a>\u2018, makes the acknowledgement even more meaningful. \u00a0\u201cWe have historically been cast at the periphery of stories and been a two-dimensional device for main protagonists,\u201d she says. \u201cTo be able to embody this woman with such fierce intellect, courage, empathy, vision and tenacity is incredible in and of itself. And then, to have this historic nomination playing a woman like that \u2013 I\u2019m over the moon.\u201d Here she talks to Deadline about what she brought of herself to the role, the challenge of a slow reveal and where we find the previously contentious Dr. Al-Hashimi and Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle<\/a>) in Season 3 of The Pitt.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSepideh Moafi and Katherine LaNasa in \u2018The Pitt\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarrick Page\/HBOMAX<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Did you bring something of yourself and your past into this role?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tSEPIDEH MOAFI:<\/strong> Not consciously, but some of the stuff that you get for free just lives there, under the surface. My first day on the set<\/a> of The Pitt was Dr. Al-Hashimi\u2019s first day in the hospital. We were navigating similar emotions. [There was] a bit of intimidation, excitement, uncertainty, confidence in our ability, but also trying to test the waters and navigate our path gently and cautiously. That\u2019s the stuff as an actor that\u2019s so fun because you don\u2019t need to work for any of it. And then you can really commit to the actions \u2013 where she came from, what she\u2019s doing, what she\u2019s saying, all those things. But I think we share a similar heart. We\u2019re heart-driven people, and we\u2019re intensely focused and meticulous about our work. Her about medicine and me about my craft. And I think coming from a background without a sense of belonging, having fractured identities and often feeling like a black sheep, I think that was really relatable. I feel changed by having played her. I feel much more organized in my relationship to these things because of her. And, as we\u2019re filming season three right now, she continues to inspire me and teach me so much. I love this woman.<\/p>\n

\n

This is not just some, rah-rah feminism. People have brought up that, \u2018It\u2019s not always about gender discrepancies or the gender gap.\u2019 But it is. Especially in medicine, not a single woman I\u2019ve spoken to has said something different about their experience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: She comes in with this can-do attitude. Is that who she is, or is that a defense mechanism in this situation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI<\/strong>: I think both. She\u2019s found ways to armor herself because women \u2013 and women in leadership, in particular \u2013 are constantly being questioned. Look, this is not just some, rah-rah feminism. People have brought up that, like, \u201cit\u2019s not always about gender discrepancies or the gender gap.\u201d But it is. Especially in medicine, not a single woman I\u2019ve spoken to has said something different about their experience. So, that was important for me to capture in her essence, and how she shows up, because you have to be strong enough to be taken seriously. And you don\u2019t want to be too domineering or too overpowering. You constantly have to check yourself and check how you\u2019re balancing your presentation, how you\u2019re balancing your energy. How you\u2019re balancing your appearance \u2013 this thing of looking presentable and looking good, but not looking too good. It\u2019s so crazy what we as women have to navigate. Imagine going to a meeting and not thinking about your appearance. How do people then perceive you? It tells a story and she\u2019s aware of the story that it tells. And she\u2019s aware of the stories that she\u2019s hiding and the stories that she\u2019s highlighting. It\u2019s wild to see how a woman with such a strong point of view easily gets backlash or gets a harsher lens than her male counterpart.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Because if you think about, say, Dr. Robby\u2019s first day, I doubt he would give thought to anything you just said about policing his tone or what he is wearing. But this is every woman, everywhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOAFI: It\u2019s the whole system and we are all products of this system. When these sorts of dynamics have been normalized and embedded in the culture, it\u2019s hard to even see it as it\u2019s happening. I think subconsciously Dr. Al-Hashimi has just accepted that this is the way it works, in order to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Overriding<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOverriding Al-Hashimi, Dr. Robby encourages Samira and Garcia through the procedure in \u2018The Pitt\u2019 Season 2 premiere<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarrick Page\/MAX<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: It\u2019s only four months between Seasons 2 and 3, but has comfort changed her veneer a little? I\u2019m assuming she\u2019s running the show now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> Yes, things have definitely shifted. And, as always, she goes about things responsibly. She\u2019s accountable. She\u2019s taken the appropriate measures to continue working in the ED. And she runs a really healthy but tight ship, and things are going really well under her watch. The whole environment seems to flow really nicely and more easily. And yeah, that gives her a sense of comfort because it\u2019s not like, \u201cLook what I did.\u201d It\u2019s more like, \u201cThis is how it should be.\u201d It\u2019s not an easy job. We\u2019re burnt out no matter what, but we need tools and to create mechanisms to help us offload some of this burden. We need to find ways to take care of our own mental health. We need to find ways to responsibly lean on each other. We need to find ways to give each other encouragement because that gives a lot too. When somebody says, \u201cGood job,\u201d or they see you, whether conscious or subconscious, it does light you up a bit. It does lighten your heart because you feel seen, you feel appreciated. And I think that despite all of the different actual technical adjustments and changes that have taken place in the hospital, there have been emotional and tonal shifts that have happened, too, that I think work for the benefit of everyone who works there.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: It\u2019s also Dr. Robby\u2019s first day back. How does he fit in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s fun. I\u2019m excited for people to see that. I\u2019m having fun with Noah exploring that. Because he\u2019s obviously gone away and we\u2019ve both changed a lot in these four months. Things have shifted and settled. And I think part of the anticipation of meeting each other again is seeing where he is in his journey and him seeing where I am in my journey. I\u2019m excited for audiences to see that.<\/p>\n

\n

[I\u2019ve had] these beautiful messages and beautiful interactions with people from my part of the world who are like, \u2018What this character means, what your work in this role means, the way that you\u2019re giving us visibility as so much more than just mothers, daughter, wives of terrorists\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Your storyline in Season 2 is phenomenal. The first time I did not see it coming. How much did you know of your arc going in?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> When I was auditioning for the job, in the last step of the process I knew that there was a neurological condition that Dr. Al-Hashimi was managing. When I got cast and read Episode 1, and it ends with that freeze at the end, it seemed pretty clear that that\u2019s what was happening. But sometimes in auditions they\u2019ll experiment with different storylines or different things just to see the actor\u2019s range, and it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it\u2019s going to end up in the script. So, I reached out to the team, and I said, \u201cI just want to make sure this means that she has temporal lobe epilepsy.\u201d And they said yes. So I knew from the very beginning that at some point towards the end of the season, there would be a reveal. I didn\u2019t know how it would be explored, how it would be done, but I knew it would happen at some point. But it was really cool seeing cast, crew, the entire production wonder and try to speculate. They all had their different hypotheses. They were like, \u201cI think she must have lost a baby. It must be some sort of trauma.\u201d Is that what you thought too?<\/p>\n

DEADLINE: Yes. She\u2019s very good at hiding the truth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOAFI: As actors, as people, we know how to keep secrets. We know how to lie when we need to. And it\u2019s not that she\u2019s lying, it\u2019s that she thinks that if people know, then they\u2019ll judge her. There is a stigma around neurological conditions, around disability, around any kind of health condition. And even though there are protections from the ADA, it\u2019s kind of irrelevant. People still judge you or see you in a different light.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s kept this zipped up from everyone except the people that absolutely need to know, her entire life. That gave me the confidence to be very convincing in my choices of hiding. Because you don\u2019t want to indicate anything. And frankly, that\u2019s the kind of acting I respond to. I really like to be surprised and to wonder what\u2019s happening inside a character rather than being told what\u2019s happening inside of the character.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sepideh<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSepideh Moafi and Noah Wyle in HBO Max<\/a>\u2018s \u2018The Pitt\u2019 Season 2 finale.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHBO Max<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen we get to this moment in Episode 7, where she goes to the bathroom \u2013 where she can show a little bit more, but she\u2019s still trying to keep herself from unraveling \u2013 that was interesting to me because I know that I don\u2019t need to play at it. It\u2019s just there living inside of me, and then the camera captures it because of the size of the frame. So, it was a really fun dance throughout the season to play with the levels.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then towards the end, there\u2019s a moment where she has another seizure and Robby sees her. The next interaction is him questioning her. I think that\u2019s some of her best lying. She\u2019s like, \u201cWhat are you talking about? I have no idea what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d And in the next episode, she reveals herself to him. I think, at that moment, she knows that he sees her. I think that\u2019s part of their connection \u2013 what repels them and attracts them is the fact that they really see each other. They can\u2019t hide from each other. So, she decides to fully reveal herself to him, hoping that it\u2019ll bring them closer, but it has the opposite effect.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What was the challenge of doing the scene where you tell Dr. Robby about the condition and he has to figure out that it\u2019s you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> I\u2019m getting emotional thinking about it. What I felt through that 14-hour shift, through those seven months, was that I was trying to control the way that I was perceived. As Dr. Al-Hashimi [I thought], \u201cIf you show a little bit of weakness or if you show one mistake, that gives Robby reason to come down on me.\u201d She\u2019s so steady. She is so precise. And in that scene it felt like I was five years old again. It felt like there are no protection mechanisms at all.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo that scene, the cliffhanger scene, was not easy. It was a lot more clear, emotionally, what was happening when we got into the scene itself in the following episode. That felt like riding a colt or something. It was like a live wire. There were some scenes where it was purging out of me and other scenes where John [Wells, EP and director of the season finale] wanted me to really control it.<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the season, the last couple episodes in particular, she\u2019s almost surfing this volcano beneath the surface. And then the volcano begins to erupt a bit. It starts to spill out. And you\u2019re trying to contain the emotion. Actually, that\u2019s probably the hardest thing that I\u2019ve had to do as an actor, is the riding of the rising emotion and having to control it but not mute it. You don\u2019t want to push it down. That\u2019s what she does for most of her professional life is push it down. But this is a different moment where you\u2019ve kind of opened the door a bit and it\u2019s wanting to fly open and you keep your hand there, but it keeps wanting to just blow open.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat was a tricky scene to navigate, but I really enjoyed doing it with John because it felt like he was an orchestra conductor. All the things were there and he was shaping it in every take. And ultimately you never know which take they\u2019re going to use, but I think the take they used really told the story in a way that was effective.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: And then there is the full eruption in the car.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOAFI: First there\u2019s the fight. After first rehearsal, our whole crew started clapping. It was really funny. That scene was intense and there were levels there. It was never mild. It was always pretty warm to very hot. What John ended up using was a lot more tame than I expected. It got bad in there. We kept checking in with each other, and being like, \u201cYou good? We good?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then that last scene in the car, we did all the technical shots of the driving for a few hours. By the time we got in the car, we only did two takes. Again, I was working with John who\u2019s so precise about his vision. So after the first take, he\u2019s like, \u201cWe got it. Do you want another?\u201d And I said, \u201cYes, I want another one, for sure.\u201d And we did another take. Then he said, \u201cDo you want another one?\u201d and I said, \u201cNo, no, no. I don\u2019t need it\u2026\u201d Because I have the type of personality that\u2019s like, \u201cLet\u2019s just keep going, let\u2019s go, let\u2019s go.\u201d But with these kinds of scenes, I feel like now at this point in my life, at this stage in my career, where you have to give and trust.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sepideh<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSepideh Moafi in \u2018The Pitt\u2019 Season 2 finale.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarrick Page\/HBO Max<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: When you\u2019re screaming in the car, is part of you like, this is the end for Al-Hashimi. This is the arc. She\u2019s never coming back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> No, that didn\u2019t enter my mind. But it definitely felt like, as the character, a very low moment. Because you\u2019ve spent your entire career doing everything perfectly. Not a single misstep, not a single mistake. And then in 30 seconds, someone threatens to take it all away from you.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt brings up the reality that, yes, she gets these cluster seizures. She hasn\u2019t had seizures in a while, but now she\u2019s had two in one day. And that\u2019s obviously alarming. She needs to take care of that and consult with her whole medical team. There are so many ways that the hospital can and must accommodate doctors. Not just doctors with neurological conditions, but doctors with health conditions, with chronic illness, with disability, who are aging, who are pregnant. It\u2019s not like, \u201cOkay, something\u2019s wrong. Now we\u2019re done with you.\u201d And that\u2019s kind of the way that Robby made it seem. Like, \u201cYou\u2019re out for six months, or you\u2019re out.\u201d So, while she knows that he\u2019s wrong, there\u2019s still that little girl in her that\u2019s like, \u201cEverything I worked for is gone.\u201d The catastrophist. Whenever we\u2019re in these places of deep mourning, and everything feels like it\u2019s collapsing down on us, we live in the worst of the situation. That\u2019s where she is.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also just a moment where she realizes, I can\u2019t keep sprinting like this. There is some truth to what he says in that you can\u2019t do this in this way anymore, which is overachieving to the extent that it\u2019s almost terrifying. You need to slow down. The advice you give, you need to take. You need to take care of yourself. You need to prioritize your health. You need to acknowledge and deal with your trauma \u2013 from life, from her condition, from working in war zones, from growing up in an immigrant family. It\u2019s just so many things, unhealed wounds, that I think this gives her an opportunity to address. But of course in that moment, it feels like life or death.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: Which is why I\u2019m relieved to hear that she\u2019s back. Have you received feedback for your character?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI: <\/strong>It\u2019s huge. Because she\u2019s so multifaceted, I get so much feedback \u2013 just these beautiful messages and beautiful interactions with people from my part of the world who are like, \u201cWhat this character means, what your work in this role means, the way that you\u2019re giving us visibility as so much more than just mothers, daughter, wives of terrorists\u2026 \u201c She gives visibility to the type of women that I know. That doesn\u2019t mean women who are high-achieving doctors, but women with the ferocity, the tenacity, the empathy, the leadership \u2013 you don\u2019t have to be a doctor to embody these qualities. These are the kinds of women that I grew up with. So there\u2019s that part.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then the overwhelming response from the medical community, specifically people who manage some sort of condition, whether it\u2019s health condition, disability or neurological condition. Not just in the health community actually. People in life, I\u2019ve had a few of my own friends tell me that they didn\u2019t realize they\u2019re having these epileptic episodes until they watched the show. That happened with two of my friends. Several other friends have emailed or texted me and said that they\u2019ve been living with this their whole life. I didn\u2019t know. They said having this representation has been almost cathartic for them because they\u2019ve never seen these types of seizures explored [in pop culture].<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd just women in medicine being like, \u201cOh my God, thank God. That is exactly what it\u2019s like. That is exactly how we\u2019re treated.\u201d I\u2019m overwhelmed with the range of people who have reached out about this role and this show. And kids too. That\u2019s what blows my mind. Little kids who are fans of the show or fans of this character.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: How young?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> Like nine years old. I\u2019m not kidding. I\u2019m like, \u201cWhy are you watching the show? How are you watching it?\u201d But, also, I want to mention the people who have reached out and said that they want to go into medicine. And the thing that has really moved me, are the people who are doctors who want to go into humanitarian aid work because of this character. It blows my mind. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re saving the world or anything, but to make people feel connected or to make people feel seen, or to make people feel enough in themselves, or to make people feel inspired, it\u2019s more gratifying than anything else in the world. I grew up not feeling seen, like I didn\u2019t fit in. I felt aimless. I felt unwanted. I never had a sense of belonging. I grew up displaced. And so for people to feel a little bit more solid in themselves because of something that they\u2019ve watched or some storyline that\u2019s been explored means the world to me.<\/p>\n

\n\tDEADLINE: What was it in your life that gave you agency and direction?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tMOAFI:<\/strong> At first it was music, when I started singing. Because I had really bad ADHD. And I tried medications and they didn\u2019t work with my body. So I really struggled in school until I found music, and then everything in my life organized, and I became a different human being really. And then from music, years later I went into acting. But all of us have meaning in our lives, and just finding that, it restructures your entire existence. That\u2019s certainly what happened with me.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll episodes of The Pitt Season 2 are streaming on HBO max.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Being the first woman of Middle Eastern descent to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1156703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,77,25127,4862,314529,4863,16,15],"class_list":["post-1156702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo-max","tag-noah-wyle","tag-sepideh-moafi","tag-the-pitt","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117119789782614987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}