I hate Susie Layla Farzad: ‘For a generation of people in the Middle East, acting is disrespectful’

It’s the first day of a cold December, and Layla Farzad reflects on her disappointment with the Christmas play at school: “I really wanted to be Mary, but there were a lot of blondes who understood me,” she recalls. “I remember my mother saying that she was more like an Oriental. But I had an eyebrow and a lisp, so I got it. It would be a strange choice.”

What i hate suzie Star draws herself at a school in west London, and it’s not exactly a future artist: “poor coordination, large features, very hairy, protruding teeth” in a school full of miniature Arabellas with ponytails. “I was definitely an anomaly,” says the 39-year-old woman, sipping mint tea on Kings Road, not far from where she lives with her husband and daughter. “When I said I wanted to be an actress, everyone said, ‘Okay, think about it.’

But Farzad soon discovered that she could make people laugh, and ended up playing many villains and male roles in school plays “because of her hairy face.”

After earning a degree in French and Italian Literature from Oxford, mainly to appease her mother, she eventually went to the Guildhall to study acting, only to find herself in an industry run like her school. young Iranian actress. very controversial statement, but for a while it seemed to me that they did not know what to do with the Middle East … They said that I looked Italian. And yes, we know that much of the Middle East really does look Mediterranean. I used to play Indians and say, “Guys, I don’t look like an Indian. Pakistani? May be. But Indian facial features are very delicate, and besides, where in India are you really looking?”

She was in room after room with the same small group of actresses of different nationalities all aiming for the same role, in what Farzard describes as “very generic brown… which was awkward.” Her first roles included “doctors diagnosing brain tumors and wives of terrorists”, and her family felt she should be a nutritionist.

In fact, Farzada’s grandmother in Los Angeles still thinks she’s a nutritionist: “We didn’t tell her I was an actress. She is old and not very connected, and she would associate it with prostitution. I think for a generation of Middle Eastern people you don’t want your daughter to be an actress – it’s not a respectable profession. My mother is very proud now, but there was something in it. Susie where she’s like, “Oh. Right. OK.’ And I’m like, “I know this isn’t Downton.”

It definitely wasn’t Downton. When i hate suzie Launched on TV in 2020 by writer Lucy Prebble and actress Billie Piper, the visceral depiction of female glory, complete with leaked intimate images, cocaine tamers, whore shaming and IBS anxiety, has been overwhelming. The first season focused on the issue of female sympathy and followed middle-class celebrity Piper Susie Pickles as she struggled with a career and family crisis and relies endlessly on her sincere best friend and agent Naomi, played by Farzad.

The show was a big break for Farzad and a role she wanted so badly that she “couldn’t even imagine” getting it. Naomi was associated with Susie as a “co-dependent hodgepodge”, but her sassy one-liners, smart pantsuits, light-hearted bisexuality, and penchant for saying what the public thinks have made her a fan favorite despite her reticence. For Farzad, who was nominated for a Bafta role, she is a “dream character”: “Wit, humor, layering, pain, trying to figure out where she fits in, it’s not just for Susie, it’s for herself, not knowing what you are want, and being able to say it.

As the first series progressed, it became clear that the main friendship was one that we don’t see often enough. “Sometimes it’s a bumpy female friendship,” says Farzad. “There is envy and jealousy that you don’t talk about. People who pretend they’re okay when the other person has what they want.”

In fact, the first series pushed Naomi to her breaking point, culminating in her decision that she no longer wanted to be Susie’s agent. Farzad only knew she would return during a dinner with Prebble after the second season was announced.

This time, the three-episode “anti-Christmas special” of the show is called I hate Susie too and although Naomi “works hard on her limitations”, she quickly reverts to old habits when Susie knocks on her door. Her own big story begins with IVF treatment. Like everything on the show, it’s openly presented, with Farzad acknowledging Naomi’s mixed feelings about motherhood: “We have to feel that if we don’t have a baby, we haven’t achieved what we should have. Even Naomi, the beauty of Teflon, says, “I just don’t want this opportunity taken away from me.” I think this is why many women freeze their eggs. A lot of my friends saved up and made it.”

Now that Farzad’s own daughter is eight years old, she is more than ready to dive into family, friends and holiday sightseeing. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at least twice,” though she had to share the sad news that Santa doesn’t deliver Apple products unless you’re under 12. Although she previously voiced characters for Peppa PigMost of her projects are “deeply, deeply mature” and she would love to make a Pixar movie for her daughter.

Recently, however, the work has matured and become very busy. Farzad to star in Armando Ianucci’s new series avenue 5as Hugh Laurie’s girlfriend and today she just flew in from Spain where she was filming a Netflix series inspired by Greek mythology. Cheese. It also doubled during production Susie tooand also star in a BBC thriller next year Betterin which she plays alongside “a detective who wrestles with his conscience”. BroadchurchAndrew Buchan. She gave her “blood, sweat and tears” for the role and is especially excited to have an Iranian play a television detective.

Watching the recent events in Iran is a “hard blow”. As a child, Farzad visited this country many times and recalls “an extraordinarily beautiful country with wonderful people … but oppression is in the air.” When she was eight years old—before the legal age for wearing the hijab—she and her mother were stopped at the airport and told to cover their hair: “I was pretty tall for my age, and they stopped us. These are scary people – guns, faces of thunder… There was a little dust, and I wrapped myself around like a little doll. Even though my mother had a strong voice and tried to be brave, I could tell she was shaking.”

In such a climate, representation is especially important. “It’s so funny to be from any diaspora,” says Farzad. “When you grow up, you are with your family, and it seems that Yasmine le Bon is half Iranian. Andre Agassi is Iranian. As a diaspora, you cling to people who are part of your world and may know about your special rice.”

While she says she is “not a big believer in who can and can’t play it,” Farzad acknowledges the power of concreteness and “the cultural echo in it.” [your] Body”. Not least because of the reaction to i hate suzieThe fact that Naomi is clearly Iranian — “heartbreaking tweets that say, ‘I’m bisexual Iranian and I can’t believe I’m seeing myself on TV’ — proved how much it can mean to see yourself on screen.