Feature > Interview > TALKING TO SHIVA ROSE BY SHABNAM REZAEI
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Born in Santa Monica, Shiva Rose is packing in the awards for her role in David & Layla, including a recent independent Spirit Award at the 2006 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival for “Best Breakthrough Performance”. She is also breaking her way into TV with roles on popular shows like CSI Miami. The daughter of Parviz Gharib-Afshar and married to Dillon McDermott, this beautiful and talented half-Persian, half-American has grown up in a family of creative entertainers. Here, we talk to her about her exciting life and what it was like to play a Kurdish girl in a big dilemma.
PersianMirror: Tell us a little about where you grew up?
Shiva Rose: I grew up in Iran in the outskirts of Tehran by the mountains until the age of ten. My childhood in Iran was really wonderful. I have great memories of playing in the rivers, walking to the bread shop in early morning, running through the bazaars. My family and I had to escape during the revolution, and finally settled in Los Angeles. I consider myself a refugee even though my mother is American, because I believe whenever someone is forced to leave their Motherland, a piece of them is always aching.
PM: What attracted you to the Arts and how did your family influence your decision to make acting your profession?
SR: I was a ballet dancer as a child and then I began to watch old movies, which I feel, molded me into an actress. My father is an Iranian talk show host and my mother was an opera singer, so I believe that the environment I was growing up with fueled my love of the arts. I grew up on TV and film sets with my father’s work, and my mother was always painting, sculpting wood, and listening to opera. I had a very vivid imagination, and so I began acting in my own personal stories as a young child and still continue to today.
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PM: Tell us about your first role and how it felt to do it?
SR: My first television role was on my father’s show in Iran, and later when I was in Junior High School in Los Angeles I won an award for a monologue in a Shakespeare Festival. I always feel like I’m coming home when I’m on stage. It feels like I know what I was put on this earth to do.
PM: You were the star in Jay Jonroy’s David & Layla; tell us about this film.
SR: This is one of my favorite roles ever! I play a Kurdish refugee who is a free spirit and falls in love with a Jewish man from NY. I’m not religious myself, but I love the way the film brings together Muslim and Jewish ideas, and proves how much common ground there is. I love the character of Layla because even though she’s suffered deeply, she is not a victim.
PM: What was it like working with Jonroy?
SR: Jay is an incredible human being. He, not unlike Layla, has suffered tremendous loss, and yet he has channeled all his trauma into a lovely film that is funny and soulful. He is the new Almodovar of cinema! I liked working with Jay because coming from a similar background I was able to figure out what he wanted.
PM: You have received so many great awards for this film. What sort of reactions have you had for this film from the audience?
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SR: People from the Middle East are usually so enthusiastic about the film. They appreciate the dancing, music, and the Kurdish love of colors.
PM: Where do you find inspiration?
SR: I find inspiration in nature. In a flower or autumn leaves drifting off a tree. I get very moved my music, old films, and great books. I even become overwhelmed by that mysterious element just driving in the city and seeing a lonely mother walking with her son to the bus stop. I suppose I can feel inspired easily. I’m also very inspired by the anti-war movement. I’m very active with protesting the war in Iraq, so much so that I’ve been arrested a number of times for demonstrating against this administration. I believe in Ghandi’s vision of a world without war and violence. I’m always inspired by the Martin Luther King Jr.s, Ghandis, and Nelson Mandelas of the world.
PM: What is your next project and what other things are you working on?
SR: At the moment I’m playing a recurring role on the television show CSI Miami. I play the character Sonya who may be back next spring. I also just finished an episode of Las Vegas playing a woman from the Middle East who is one of three wives to a man from Qatar. I’m really excited about a couple theatrical plays that I will be doing this year. One is based on the classic My Antonia, and the other is a play that I’ve written about a photographer in Mexico. My Antonia hopefully will be at the theater Pacific Resident Theater in Venice Ca. I’m also producing a beautiful story called The Persian Bride. Todd Fields the director of Little Children is supposed to direct it. Persian Bride is not a film I will be in, but I love the story so much and want people to see the beauty of the Persian culture.
PM: Your father is Iranian. What is your favorite part about Iran and its rich culture?
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SR: I like to remind people about how old Persian culture is. When Europe was in the Dark Age, Persia was flourishing in the area of science, mathematics, and art. Everything from the art of carpets to the music and poetry of Iran, is rich in its history and eloquence. My father was reciting Rumi and Omar Khayyam the other day, and I thought that these poems answer all the human questions one ever has. We could solve a lot of the world’s problems by reading some of these enlightened poets. One favorite poet of mine is Sa’adi. I live by his famous poem: “The children of Adam are limbs of each other, having been created of one essence. When the calamity of time afflicts one limb the other limbs cannot remain at rest. If thou hast no sympathy for the troubles of others, thou art unworthy to be called by the name of man.”
PM: Desert Island. Three things. What will you take?
SR: If I could take people I would take my two daughters and my husband. If I could take only objects than I suppose it would be the works of Shakespeare, music, and photographs of my past. When we escaped from Iran we couldn’t take any thing but one bag. My mother was wise enough to fill the one bag with photographs of my childhood in Iran.
PersianMirror Quikfacts:
Full Name: Shiva Rose Gharib-Afshar. McDermott is my married name.
Favorite Color: Indigo blue the color of my daughters eyes. Favorite Dish: Addas pollo and Ghemieh Bademjoon.
Languages: English, Farsi and conversational French.
Currently Reading: The House of Spirits by Isabelle Allende.
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