{"id":841380,"date":"2026-06-03T11:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/841380\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T11:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T11:38:19","slug":"how-hollywoods-boys-club-prepared-these-actors-for-the-pitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/841380\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hollywood’s ‘boys’ club’ prepared these actors for ‘The Pitt’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since launching at the start of 2025, \u201cThe Pitt\u201d<\/a> has emerged as more than just a hyperrealistic depiction of an embattled American emergency department. Using its hospital setting as a social microcosm, HBO Max\u2019s Emmy-winning juggernaut has explored various systemic issues \u2014 including the misogyny that women of color face in the workplace.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the stories from real physicians and nurses that I\u2019ve spoken to are so crazy. The system feels like it\u2019s 15, 20 years behind other industries,\u201d says Sepideh Moafi, who portrays attending Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi. \u201cThere is still this older culture of a boundaryless style of work where [there\u2019s] a lack of understanding and compassion,\u201d with respect to pregnancy and childcare, for working women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pitt\u2019s\u201d depiction of such subjects includes unflinching attention to microaggressions and unconscious biases. Isa Briones, who plays second-year resident Dr. Trinity Santos, recalls hearing from qualified on-set doctors that \u201ca lot of female physicians will wear their lab coats, because it makes them look like more of an authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a female, half-Asian doctor on our set who consistently says that people talk to the nurse in the room if they\u2019re a white man instead of her,\u201d adds Supriya Ganesh, whose character, fourth-year resident Dr. Samira Mohan, is mistaken for a nurse in Season 2, despite having \u201cDOCTOR\u201d emblazoned on her name tag.<\/p>\n

\"Supriya <\/p>\n

Supriya Ganesh.<\/p>\n

(Justin Jun Lee \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Nor is the series reluctant to show the other side of the dynamic, as doctors Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) and Langdon (Patrick Ball) lash out against their colleagues in lieu of acknowledging their own flaws. Although the women of \u201cThe Pitt\u201d would never compare acting to saving lives, Briones believes that the experiences of women \u2014 especially from marginalized communities \u2014 share commonalities across many male-dominated industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entertainment business constantly feels like a boys\u2019 club that you cannot penetrate no matter what you do, because it\u2019s still always going to be these older white men who are making all the decisions,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s why seeing the storyline with Langdon and Robby informed my performance so much, because I know this feeling of being like, \u2018Why the f\u2014 are these men fist-bumping each other? I\u2019m also here! I\u2019m doing my job too!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a woman in any field, if you express emotion, if you make your opinion or your voice heard, then it\u2019s like, \u2018You\u2019re talking too much. You\u2019re being hysterical,\u2019\u201d Moafi says.<\/p>\n

\"Sepideh <\/p>\n

Sepideh Moafi.<\/p>\n

(Justin Jun Lee \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

In holding up a mirror to the healthcare system, showrunner R. Scott Gemmill<\/a> also wanted to explore the linguistic diversity of its practitioners, allowing his actors of color to reconnect with their mother tongues.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanguage shapes who you are, how you see the world,\u201d Moafi says. Al-Hashimi became a polyglot \u2014 speaking English, Farsi and Armenian \u2014 in part to curb the effects of a seizure disorder on her temporal lobe, which is crucial for language comprehension. \u201c[Language] connects you to different registers in the body. The rhythms are different, and the emotional access is more immediate.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Season 1, Santos \u2014 who, like Briones, is half-Filipino \u2014 surprised nurses Princess (Kristin Villanueva) and Perlah (Amielynn Abellera) by chiming in on their gossip session in Tagalog. But wanting to show \u201ca more vulnerable side of Santos\u201d this season, Briones worked with her own actor father, Jon Jon, to find a Filipino lullaby that she could sing to baby Jane Doe.<\/p>\n

To reflect the 100-plus languages spoken in the Philippines, they selected a Hiligaynon lullaby called \u201cIli Ili Tulog Anay.\u201d Briones advocated for the scene not to have subtitles: \u201cIt should be just this quiet moment that you don\u2019t have to understand [the language] to understand, but also it\u2019s a great moment for people who do speak it to feel that little secret joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Briones, speaking Tagalog at work has opened up difficult conversations with her immigrant father, who feels shame about not passing down enough cultural knowledge to his children. \u201cI\u2019ve been starting with Rosetta Stone, so I can start conversing with my dad and then he can help me, because I want to be able to talk to my lola and she doesn\u2019t have to work through English,\u201d she says. \u201cThis show has reminded me of how important that is to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Isa <\/p>\n

Isa Briones.<\/p>\n

(Justin Jun Lee \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Ganesh, who grew up in New Delhi, felt strongly that Mohan should not be fluent in Hindi because of its similarities to Nepali, the language that doctors struggled to identify when treating a patient in the first season. Instead, the actor chose to infuse her own heritage into the character, who uses Tamil as a way to feel connected to her late father.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe chooses to speak it with her mom, because maybe that\u2019s the only other person she has in her life who she can speak it to,\u201d explains Ganesh, who recalls consulting multiple generations of her own family \u2014 and even her on-set coach\u2019s family \u2014 for the Tamil dialogue. \u201cShe wants to preserve that as much as she can, even though it\u2019s already filtered through her being American and being born in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

That part of Indian American culture will be lost next season, with Ganesh officially departing at the end of Season 2. The actor reiterates that the \u201ccreative decision\u201d to write Mohan off was made by executive producers Gemmill, Wyle and John Wells: \u201cThey work with such intention on the show and make all the choices that they make for that reason, so I think it\u2019s better to ask them for answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to treasure all the memories I had working with these two and everyone else,\u201d Ganesh adds. \u201cIt\u2019s been so great just getting all the love from the fans. I feel sad for them, too, that they won\u2019t get to see this character.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe representation that you brought to the show is so beautiful,\u201d Briones chimes in. \u201cSeeing the fans ride for you so hard and be like, \u2018This was the first time I felt represented on camera,\u2019 it\u2019s really gorgeous to see everyone coming out and celebrating that and celebrating you.\u201d<\/p>\n

For her part, Moafi believes that Dr. Mohan will be remembered for the way \u201cshe won\u2019t compromise humanity in how she delivers care.\u201d \u201cThe power of strength comes from vulnerability, and in order to go fast, you have to slow down,\u201d she adds. \u201cThat\u2019s something that is so ingrained in us, as women.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since launching at the start of 2025, \u201cThe Pitt\u201d has emerged as more than just a hyperrealistic depiction…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":841381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[18046,31142,1582,276,19919,462,9223,275431,2961,344521,224,5337,40960,69539,5996,38720,5950,247739,233255,11459],"class_list":["post-841380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-actor","tag-boy","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-character","tag-club","tag-doctor","tag-isa-briones","tag-la","tag-language-comprehension","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-noah-wyle","tag-nurse","tag-part","tag-pitt","tag-season","tag-sepideh-moafi","tag-supriya-ganesh","tag-woman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116685984788278946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}