You may know Sepideh Moafi as the precise and ambitious Dr. Al-Hashimi from The Pitt, or perhaps as a sex worker and activist on The Deuce, or as a separated mother in the gutting The Killing of Two Lovers, or as realtor Gigi on the revamped and camp L Word: Generation Q. You may not know that Moafi was born in a German refugee camp after her parents fled the Islamic Revolution in Iran; the family then lived in Turkey and eventually came to the U.S., an experience that shaped Moafi’s politics. Today, she’s a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, and in 2024, she joined a Palestinian Festival of Literature project to read aloud from South Africa’s case file charging Israel with genocide. Now, she answers our 10 questions.
Where are you right now?
In my living room, sitting on the floor.
What are you never without?
A notebook.
When and where do you do your best thinking?
In community. In curiosity. In conversation. In observation. And honestly, at the edge of a deadline.
What’s the last project you abandoned?
Haters.
Favorite novel?
I struggle with choosing favorites, but I love Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts.
Favorite smell?
Anything my mother cooks.
What’s your utopia?
A place where time stretches when it’s good, and ice cream is healthy, and everyone I love is thriving, and Iran, Palestine, Sudan — and all people — are free.
How are you experiencing gender these days?
Queerly.
What’s your luxury that money can’t buy?
Time well spent.
What do you fantasize about?
Desire.
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