Sepideh Moafi is an American actress and singer. Moafi is best known for her role as Gigi Ghorbani in The L Word: Generation Q and Loretta in The Deuce. Moafi has also starred in Notorious, Falling Water and The Killing of Two Lovers. Moafi was born on September 18, 1985, in a refugee camp in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany.Prior to Moafi's birth, Moafi's parents had to flee Iran after the Islamic Revolution. After two years in Turkey and then Germany where Moafi's parents sought political asylum and claimed refugee status, Moafi's family were granted visas to come to the United States.
Sepideh Moafi is an Iranian-American actress and singer. Moafi is best known for her role as Gigi Ghorbani in The L Word: Generation Q and Loretta in The Deuce. Moafi has also starred in Notorious, Falling Water and The Killing of Two Lovers.Grandave Intl. has acquired worldwide sales rights for the drama mystery feature “Wild Berries,” starring Shahab Hosseini, best actor award winner at Cannes for “The Salesman,” and Sepideh Moafi, whose credits include “The Killing of Two Lovers” and “The L Word: Generation Q.” In addition to his Cannes award, Hosseini received the Berlinale acting prize for his role in “A Separation.” Moafi stars in the Golden Globe nominated Apple TV+ series “Black Bird,” and the FX series “Class of 09.”
Grandave Intl. will be introducing “Wild Berries” to buyers at the Cannes Film Market, May 16-27.The past, present, and future collide in this story of an immigrant Iranian couple’s annual road trip on their wedding anniversary, while a mysterious stranger is following them. The screenplay, written and directed by Soudabeh Moradian (“Polaris,” “Doomsday Machine”), is adapted from “Language of Wild Berries,” written by the playwright Naghmeh Samini (“Mainline,” “Three Women”.
The movie is being produced by Julie R. Snyder (“Tanner Hall,” “Above Suspicion”). Moradian and Nadia Davari are executive producers. The film will go into production in late fall of this year. “We’re honored to be working with Cannes’ best actor winner Shahab Hosseini and present this prestigious film to the buyers to further expand our company’s global impact,” Tamara Nagahiro, Grandave Intl. head of sales, said. Grandave Intl.’s Cannes lineup includes Ruben Islas’ “Atypical Pirates.”
Variety will present four conversations centered on global incentives and filming at Cannes Film Festival at the American Pavilion on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.Panelists from Spain, Hungary, Poland and Film Alula will participate in conversations moderated by Variety reporters John Hopewell, Leo Barraclough and Nick Vivarelli. The panels will highlight each of the region’s facilities, incentives, and filming community. Guests of the conversations will include producers, sales agents, distributors and creatives looking to learn about the different filming opportunities in these regions.
Juan Manuel Guimeráns from the General Secretary Spain Film Commission will speak on the Spain Location panel. Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Madants producer; Kamila Morgisz, head of film production and film project development at the Polish Film Institute; and Martin Moszkowicz, chairman of the executive board at Constantin Film will discuss production in Poland.
Csaba Káel, film commissioner and chairman of the National Film Institute and Ildiko Kemeny, CEO/producer of Pioneer Stillking Films will speak about filming in Hungary. Charlene Deleon-Jones, executive director, Alula, will speak on Saudi Arabia production opportunities. “As the leading global entertainment news media organization, we are thrilled to offer a platform to highlight the opportunities and incentives these four locations offer to studios, producers and filmmakers,” said Dea Lawrence, chief operating and marketing officer of Variety.
If you are attending the Cannes Film Festival and would like to attend Variety Global Locations, please request an invite here variety.com/cannesampav. Conversations will be published on Variety.com after the event. Variety will be present at Cannes Film Festival in a number of additional ways including its annual Welcome to Cannes Party, a New Gen Filmmaking panel at the American Pavilion presented by Adobe and more.
In 2013, Moafi had her first on-screen credit in a guest-starring role as Aaliya Zaki in the tenth episode of season four of CBS's Blue Bloods. In 2015, Moafi landed what would be her breakout role, a recurring role as Loretta in HBO's The Deuce, an American drama television series created by David Simon and George Pelecanos set during the 1970s and 1980s and explored the stories of sex-workers in New York.
Before filming the pilot, Simon met Moafi for a coffee date and explained to Moafi what The Deuce was going to be about and what her character's arc, Loretta, on the show was going to be. While her character on The Deuce had been planned early on, Moafi subsequently landed a lead role in Notorious (a show which was to be filmed in Los Angeles) after meeting with Simon and before the pilot of The Deuce was filmed.
Moafi wrote a letter to the executive producers of The Deuce, Simon, Pelecanos and Nina Kostroff Noble hoping that they would still let her be a part of The Deuce despite her regular gig on Notorious. The executive producers on The Deuce let Moafi continue to be a part of their show and worked around her schedule as The Deuce was mainly filmed in New York.However, as a result, Loretta's arc could not be fulfilled as initially planned and had to go a different direction because of Moafi's scheduling conflicts and she was only in three episodes in the first season of The Deuce. The pilot of The Deuce was shot in 2015 and the first season was shot a year later.
In 2016, Moafi starred as Megan Byrd on ABC's Notorious. The show is based on real-life criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos and Larry King Live news producer Wendy Walker. Moafi's character is a junior producer and booker on the fictional number one cable news show Louise Herrick Live and her character is considered to be the number-two to Julia George, played by Piper Perabo. While the show originally landed a 13-episode first season, ABC cut the first season to 10 episodes and the show was cancelled by ABC after one season.
After Notorious was cancelled, Moafi continued to appear in her recurring role as Loretta on The Deuce, and her character was made a series regular in season 3, the final season. Moafi's character on The Deuce was initially a sex-worker working on the streets of New York and later became an anti-pornography activist, which was one of the main reasons Moafi wanted to continue to be a part of The Deuce despite her scheduling conflicts. To prepare for her role as Loretta, Moafi did research into the history of New York by reading books such as pimp and sex workers' memoirs and studied vintage porn to help her understanding of the historical context that the show was set in. Moafi has stated that The Deuce has changed and influenced her relationship and view of the porn industry after the stories portrayed in the show.
