Sepideh Moafi of ‘The Pitt’ is ‘still in disbelief’ about her first-ever Emmy nod

The test results are in: Sepideh Moafi’s first shift on “The Pitt” received a positive result from Emmy voters.

Moafi joined the popular medical drama’s second season as Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, an attending physician brought in to take over as chief as Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) prepares to take leave for a three-month sabbatical. Her leadership style — she likes efficiency and structure — and interest in implementing some changes quickly turns heads at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. And it causes some tension with Dr. Robby, which comes to a head in the season finale, as Dr. Al-Hashimi confides in him about living with a seizure disorder that leads to an ultimatum from Dr. Robby: Self-report or he will.

Moafi scooped up a nomination Wednesday for supporting actress in a drama, joining castmates Taylor Dearden, Fiona Dourif and Katherine LaNasa, as well as Allison Janney (“The Diplomat”), Julianne Nicholson (“Paradise”) and Karolina Wydra (“Pluribus”).

The morning’s jolt of excitement hit “The Pitt” team with the strength of a defibrillator to the chest. The HBO Max series led all nominees with 25 total nods — nearly doubling its 13 nominations from last year — including recognition in the drama, actor (Wyle) and supporting cast categories.

The Times spoke with Moafi about her first-ever Emmy nomination; this conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Let’s take a page from “The Pitt” — place me in Hour 1 (8:30 to 9:30 a.m.) of your Emmy nominations morning.

I’ve been abroad for a couple weeks now, and I got in yesterday and I was fighting so hard to stay up for as long as possible, but I couldn’t. Around 7 p.m., I fell asleep and woke up at 3 a.m., had a long meditation workout, and tried not to think about this too much. I actually have my parents here [in Los Angeles] with me. We started watching the live broadcast and I had my sister on FaceTime and other family. Then my team called me and I kept denying their call. I didn’t realize that they knew something I didn’t; I kept declining the calls. They called again, and were like, “Congratulations!” I was like, “What do you mean? It hasn’t been announced?” It took me like 15 seconds or something to really understand what was happening. I’m still in disbelief right now. I can’t really wrap my head around the magnitude of this moment, but it just seems so, so appropriate to have such a climactic moment in my life arrive in somewhat anticlimactic fashion. Like, I’m the last person to really understand.

“The Pitt” led the pack with 25 nominations. And in your category, you’re nominated alongside Fiona, Taylor and Katherine. How does it feel to share in this moment?

I just feel so proud to stand alongside, not just these women of “The Pitt,” but all of the women who are recognized in this category and all of the categories. My dear friend Valerie Chu, who’s one of our writers, is being recognized. Kirsten [Pierre-Geyfman], another writer, is being recognized. The show was recognized and celebrated last season, but it’s not about those of us who are being given an Emmy nod, it’s about the whole team. I don’t say that lightly; sure, we are lucky to have this sort of concentrated recognition, but it really doesn’t work without this entire ecosystem. All the writers, all of the people in the sound department, makeup department, hair department — it’s just another reason for us to celebrate the teamwork on the show as a whole.

Dr. Al-Hashimi is experienced, but she’s a newcomer to this well-oiled machine, much like yourself joining this series in its second season. How did that parallel inform your approach? And what intrigued you about what this character brought to the show?

Like you said, we’re both experienced professionals in our respective careers, and we both had our first day on “The Pitt” at the same time — her first day lasted a lot longer than mine did. It was intimidating, but thrilling to enter this show that you know works, with such pros, with people who care about the details, who care about the craft, and so I was excited to just get in and be part of the team.

I was also excited to bring voice to this character that I just don’t see represented or reflected in a lot of mainstream media. Somebody who was managing this temporal lobe epilepsy, but also somebody who works in humanitarian aid field in this moment of unprecedented attacks against our aid workers. Having that visibility for my friends who sacrifice everything to go where help is needed most was a huge honor, even though it’s not what this character is about in the show, it’s such a big part of her lens on the world, on her career, on her life. It might not be explored more than a couple times in the show itself, but it was with me every single moment of every single day I was on that set. That felt really poignant and powerful to me. And having a mixed-race woman — half Iranian, half Iraqi — bringing her life experience, and it’s not about identity, but her identities inform her approach to her staff, to her colleagues, to her patients, to her work, to her life, to her condition. There’s so many things to sink into, and that gave me the confidence to enter this world because we’re there to be part of the collective and in order to be a strong part of the collective, we have to have a strong hold on our characters and the world in which they live in.

It seems daunting dialing in that depth and breadth within “The Pitt’s” hour-by-hour format. How did you approach pacing your performance in the confines of a single day at work? Did it shift how you thought about character building?

Because I have some background working with humanitarian organizations and because I have a lot of friends who are journalists, doctors, humanitarian aid workers, who either do this full-time working with NGOs, or they volunteer — it’s not like I thought I had a handle on it, but it was just something that was a little bit more familiar to me. The part that I found most daunting was getting into the medicine. This idea of entering the headspace of [a doctor] and the way they think, the velocity, the specificity, it’s a very different world and a very different mindset from the one that I’ve grown with, having devoted my life for the most part to art. I had to cram 15, 16 years of medical experience into a week before we started shooting. We are supported by so many different doctors and nurses who are on set at all times. We have a medical advisor, a technical advisor, on set at all times, and so I lean on them heavily. I speak to them for hours before each episode and throughout the episode. I’m constantly checking in with them on the day on set. If I had a role like this 10 years ago, I would have put a lot of pressure on myself and there would have been much more tension in the preparation; whereas I think at this point in my life it was, I’m doing everything I can do, and I’m immersed and absorbed in the ways that I can be, and then I have to show up to set and just trust that the work is working on me.

The new season takes place in November. How far into production are you? And what can you tease now that won’t make sense until we watch?

I’m aware of this overall trajectory of my character, very broad strokes. I don’t know any details, but I kind of know what’s happening to a certain degree. I start this week. Actually, we have our table read tomorrow for the episode that I enter in. This season, not everybody’s entering Episode 1; there are delayed entrances. I’m one of those delayed entrances. All I can tease is that it’s four months into the future, there are certain things that I can tell from the script that I just read — certain things are dealt with and other things are not dealt with. I think, in a way, that is very appropriate for “The Pitt.” You feel what’s behind the lines. We haven’t filmed it yet, but I imagine that it’s less about what is being said and more about what is not being said. I’m excited to explore more and to learn more of where all the characters are going, and where the story is going.

But does the Lululemon zip-up jacket make a return?

[laughs] I don’t know if I can spoil, but I will say there is a riff on it, a different style that’s sort of similar.

Emmys is a fun night where you can run into your favorite actors by your seat or in the lobby, if not on the red carpet. Who do you hope to see at the Emmys?

Oh gosh, there’s so many people whose work I admire, but I think the person that I just have so much awe and admiration for is Jean Smart. She’s a living legend. She’s one of those actors that I’m watching and taking mental notes constantly … and thinking, “God, how does she always nail it? How does she always have the perfect timing?” I’m really, really excited to see and meet her … and everyone. I’ve been an admirer of Carrie Coon for a while. Rhea Seehorn. Riz Ahmed. Oscar Isaac. There’s so many people across categories that I’m just excited to be in company with. I’m more than happy to just absorb all of the energy throughout this process, throughout this campaign process, and beyond. It’s so cool to be alongside this caliber of talent.

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