‘The Pitt’ star Sepideh Moafi says her agent wanted to change her name

“The Pitt” season 2 star Sepideh Moafi recently shared this People that her first agent told her to change her name so she could get more roles.

“When I graduated high school, my first agent wanted me to change my name and I immediately said, ‘Fuck no,’” she recalls. “I know actors who have changed their names and there’s no judgment about that. And I know a lot of actors, especially people of color, who were expected to change their names and didn’t.”

She explained that for everyone, the decision to change their name is “complicated,” adding, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people who decide to do it.”

For her own good, Moafi said, “I felt like they needed me to be someone else in order to work or sell something. I refused. I kept going and eventually booked my first job and then my second and third, resulting in a beautiful, varied career.”

In season 2 of The Pitt, Moafi plays Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, an attending physician who Dr. Noah Wyle’s Michael Robinavitch will fill in while he is on sabbatical. Her other TV credits include “The Deuce,” “The L Word: Generation Q” and “Black Bird.”