Skip to main content

Moving all the way from Tehran, Iran, to Powell, Ohio, is not an easy thing to do.

But all 6,474 miles were worth it for one family of three, so long as the daughter got to follow her dreams.

And it was in Ohio that she was able to pursue her passion for acting, falling in love with playwrights like Lorraine Hansberry and Arthur Miller, eventually landing roles both on Broadway and television.

And now, she's nominated for Tony Award.

Actress Talayeh Ashrafi, known professionally as Tala Ashe, known for her roles in Broadway theater and on television shows like "Smash," "As the World Turns" and DC's "Legends of Tomorrow," was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.



Sanaz Toossi's "English" premiered in 2022. The play is set in Karaj, Iran, and follows four adult classmates as they attempt to learn the English language. Cultural assimilation, language and identity are central themes in the play.

"English" was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, making Toossi the first Iranian-American to receive the nomination.

For Ashe, playing Elham — an unapologetically bold character working on her fifth attempt to learn English — was especially meaningful to her own experiences as an Iranian-American and her efforts to land roles that represent diverse voices.

"I'm pulling from my mother and my grandmothers and my ancestors to play her," Ashe said. "It's always a fight for accurate and nuanced representation, so in some ways, getting to 'English' also feels like a full journey of unlocking that door."
Powell actress receives Tony nomination

Being nominated for a Tony Award, after over a decade of playing roles in the entertainment industry, means everything to not just Ashe, but her parents, Shoreh Elhami and Javad Ashrafi, as well.

"This nomination also just represents the culmination of a lot of heartbreak, a lot of hard work, and all my work, in some way, is as much for them as it is for me," Ashe said.

With the support of her parents, Ashe was able to pursue acting, landing key roles on television shows like "Covert Affairs," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "30 Rock." However, she said theater is her first love.

"I realized that a lot of what I'm seeking is about community, about building art together with people. And often, on television, you don't have the time and circumstances to do that," Ashe said.

Ashe spent five years as Zari on DC's "Legends of Tomorrow" — the show's first Muslim-American superhero — where she did build that sense of community she had been seeking, but making her way back to theater for "English" had been a full-circle moment to not just act, but thoughtfully represent diversity.

"Seeing stories about people that are different than us, especially excellently told stories, expands our minds, our empathy," Ashe said.

"I love being an artist. I love being an actor, and I've realized that it's also important for me to recognize what I represent."

Ashe and her co-star, Marjan Neshat, are the first Middle Eastern actresses nominated for a Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Michailovic pushed his glasses back and sighed.   “The following numbers are being released. ”The numbers came spitting out of Michailovic’s mouth, resembling in more ways than one a madman with a machine gun in a massacre.   Hardly anyone showed any reaction, making it impossible to tell whether they were shot or not.   The notable exceptions were a couple of smiles breaking out here and there as some numbers were being skipped.   As the list carried on, Callahan realized that before long it would be zooming in at an alarming rate on his proximity. Callahan had no idea who those ahead of him were, but he could see that none of them were making the cut.   He considered it good, after all the more gone before him, the higher his chances were.   He looked up at Michailovic, almost trying to read his lips before the words were spat out. “116.” Callahan looked around, trying to identify the holder of this number.   However, no one was responding. “117.” C...
I saw him after the 1998 World Cup where he had called a controversial penalty kick against Brazil for Norway. This was a friendly at Foxboro on September 12, 1998 between the US and Mexico's women's team that the US won 9-0 although he wasn't the ref but rather was there for some kind of award. I shouted out to him as he walked by "اسی چاکریم!" but he either didn't hear me or chose not to respond. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...-builder-award Esfandiar "Esse" Baharmast, a former referee, player, coach and current instructor who has been involved in more than a dozen World Cup tournaments and Olympic Games, has been named the 2020 winner of U.S. Soccer's prestigious Werner Fricker Builder Award. The Iranian who officiated the first MLS match and first MLS Cup, and won the inaugural MLS Referee of the Year award in 1997, is the second referee to receive U.S. Soccer's highest honor after Gerhard Mengel in 2005. The Wern...
The woman who allegedly opened fire at YouTube’s headquarters in a suburb of San Francisco, injuring three before killing herself, was apparently furious with the video website because it had stopped paying her for her clips. Police in California named the shooter as Nasim Najafi Aghdam. Aghdam was “upset with the policies and practices of YouTube”, San Bruno police chief Ed Barberini said at a press conference on Wednesday. “This appears to be the motive for this incident.” No evidence had been found linking her to any individuals at the company where she allegedly opened fire on Tuesday, he said. Police gave her age as 39 but her brother said she would have turned 38 on Wednesday. Two of the three shooting victims from the incident were released from the Zuckerberg San Francisco general hospital on Tuesday night. A third, a male in his 30s, is currently in “serious condition”, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday morning. A fourth victim had been injured, but not shot,...