\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHBO Max<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tAsked what that recognition would mean, one name comes to mind: Toni Morrison.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAs Toni Morrison says, this is not a grab bag candy game,\u201d Moafi says. \u201cIt\u2019s not about me, and I get this, and look at how great I am. For me, it\u2019s so much about showing what the next generation, showing what with girls in Iran, showing girls in Afghanistan, showing girls in the U.S., like we are visible, we are here, we\u2019re unstoppable, and we\u2019re fucking good.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe continues: \u201cWe want the visibility that we exist, that we\u2019re here, that we are the DNA of, in this case, the United States. What it means to be American is to look like me, and to look like you, and it\u2019s not a monolith.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMoafi was born in West Germany in a refugee camp after her parents fled Iran following the Islamic Revolution, and immigrated to the United States as a young child. The Iranian American actress has long brought a quiet ferocity to her work, in series including David Simon\u2019s \u201cThe Deuce.\u201d Still, Dr. Al-Hashimi is the role that putting her in the awards conversation.<\/p>\n \n\tThe character\u2019s storyline cracks open in the back half of Season 2. It\u2019s revealed that Dr. Al-Hashimi has lived with a chronic seizure disorder \u2014 focal impaired awareness seizures \u2014 since contracting viral meningitis at age 5. During high-pressure shifts, her seizures present subtly: she suddenly \u201czones out,\u201d stops speaking or stares blankly, behaviors most colleagues had read as her being thoughtful or deep in concentration. In the Season 2 finale, she confides her medical history to Dr. Robby. She shows him her charts after he has begun piecing together what\u2019s happening. Robby presses her to officially disclose her condition to the hospital. She reveals she already has a medical plan in place.<\/p>\n \n\tThat arc, Moafi says, is the one she most wanted to fight for.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cPeople with disabilities, people with health conditions, are not disposable, and let\u2019s just be clear about that,\u201d she shares. \u201cThey are not fucking disposable, and the idea of you did this, and so now you\u2019re gone is outrageous and cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSepideh Moafi<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Knapp<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tMoafi has been the stoic, mesmerizing counterweight to Wyle\u2019s reactive Dr. Robby all season, most notably in scenes where Robby appears to shame Dr. Mohan for having a panic attack. That stillness comes from somewhere. Moafi originally trained as an opera singer, and her mother cried when she told her she was switching from music to acting.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe started crying, and she\u2019s like, \u2018No, but your voice,’\u201d Moafi recalls. \u201cBut she also said, \u2018You can\u2019t take your shirt off.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe has always marched to the beat of her own drum. Moafi says she was bullied relentlessly in grade school, but that didn\u2019t stop her from doing things people assumed she wasn\u2019t capable of, like joining the junior high wrestling team.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI went and I tried out for wrestling, and I remember the coach was like, \u2018You know, volleyball\u2019s in the other gym,\u2019 and I said, \u2018I know.\u2019 And he\u2019s like, \u2018OK, OK,’\u201d she says. \u201cI made it co-ed because I was the only girl on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe has also become an unexpected internet favorite. One meme circulating on social media positions Dr. Al-Hashimi\u2019s curly hair as the medical-drama answer to Jennifer Aniston\u2019s Rachel Green on \u201cFriends,\u201d nodding to the \u201990s sitcom hair phenomenon. Moafi is ecstatic about the comparison.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOh my God, I did not see that. I\u2019m obsessed, and I\u2019m so honored, because growing up watching \u2018Friends,\u2019 the Rachel Green hair was everything,\u201d she says. \u201cHow many people throughout my career, when I wear my hair curly, have said, \u2018Oh my God, you\u2019ve inspired me to wear my hair curly.\u2019 It\u2019s crazy to me that we have any shame or hesitation, because we\u2019ve been told that this is what beauty looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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