IN CONVERSATION WITH PEGAH GHAFOORI

interview by JANA LETONJA

Moving between psychological tension and deeply personal storytelling, Pegah Ghafoori is steadily defining a career shaped by intensity and purpose. As FROM returned for its fourth season, her character Fatima takes on an increasingly central role opposite Harold Perrineau, anchoring one of the series’ most anticipated arcs. Beyond television, Pegah has garnered critical acclaim for her lead performance in One Must Wash Eyes, a film that explores identity, consequence, and resilience with striking immediacy. Balancing genre storytelling with socially resonant work, she represents a new generation of actors whose presence carries both emotional depth and cultural weight. 

dress AZAZIE
shoes JIMMY CHOO
earrings and rings LUV AJ
bracelet ASTRID and MIYU

As FROM returned for its fourth season, how did Fatima evolve in this chapter?

This season pushes Fatima into completely new territory. When we first meet her, she’s arguably the most grounded person in town. There’s this lightness to her, things slide off her back, and she has a perspective that almost protects her from the environment around her. As the story unfolds, the town slowly wages war on her agency and autonomy.

When we leave her in season three, she’s a shell of who she was in the first season. This season, instead of just surviving what’s happening to her, she begins, pushing back. That shift, deeply tied to her instinct to protect the people she loves, turns her into something more formidable. She rises out of that exhaustion hungry to reclaim her agency, have her voice heard, and take her power back.

Without giving too much away, the version of Fatima audiences see this season is not one they’re going to expect.

The show operates in a very intense, almost surreal space. How do you ground your performance in that environment?

The key for me is to never play the intensity of the world. I played the reality of the character inside it. Even if the circumstances are heightened or surreal, the emotions can’t feel abstract. Fear, grief, love, isolation, those things are deeply human.

I focus a lot on what the character needs, what they’re afraid of losing, and what they’re trying to protect. That’s what grounds me. I also rely heavily on collaboration. I trust the writing, I trust my scene partners, I trust the world-building the creators have already established. That allows me to stay anchored and not feel like I have to addintensity to the material. My job is really just to be as truthful and as specific as possible, and let the world of the show do the rest.

dress HERVE LEGER
shoes DIOR
earrings LUV AJ

What is the biggest challenge in sustaining that level of tension over multiple seasons?

I think one of the biggest challenges as an actor on a long-running show is tracking the emotional mileage of a character over time. You can’t approach season five with the same nervous system the character had in season one. Experiences change people, tension changes people, and I’m constantly thinking about how that accumulates in someone, emotionally, psychologically, even physically.

A huge part of my process is mapping where the character's intensity lives each season. Sometimes fear hardens into control. Sometimes grief turns into numbness. Sometimes survival creates anger. I’m always asking myself, “What has this person learned emotionally, and what has it cost them?”

If you just keep playing intensity at the same frequency year after year, it stops feeling truthful. The character has to keep evolving internally for the stakes to stay alive. So for me, sustaining tension is really about tracking transformation. 

This role brought you major recognition. What drew you to the project initially?

What’s funny is my manager had submitted me for the role, but I didn’t get the audition initially. Then someone randomly asked me if I’ve gone out for it yet, so my manager circled back and inquired again. That’s when the audition finally came through. 

Once I got the material, something immediately clicked. I had a strong gut feeling about it. The character felt eerie and familiar to me at the same time, which is a very strange feeling as an actor. It felt like I already knew her somehow. 

And the world of the show had such a specific emotional language to it. It didn’t feel generic or manufactured. It felt emotionally intimate, unsettling, and oddly recognizable all at once. That combination really pulled me in. 

Do you feel a responsibility when taking on roles that intersect with political or cultural realities?

Absolutely, but not in the sense of trying to deliver a message or tell audiences what to think. For me, the responsibility is really about being informed and doing the work. Listening, researching, staying open, and approaching the material with empathy.

My job as an actor is to tell the truth of the character’s experience as honestly and compassionately as I can. What meaning audiences ultimately take from the story belongs more to the writers, directors, and the audience themselves. 

How do you protect yourself when working on heavy material?

When I’m working, I mentally visualize a line in front of me. I close my eyes, and when I’m ready, I step over it. Once I crossed that line, I’m the character and everything is fair game. Between the first action and the last cut, I think differently, move differently, even breathe differently than Pegah would. I let myself get stretched as thin as the story calls for.

But once the workday is over, it becomes really important for me to step back over that line to consciously separate from the character again. Otherwise, you can start carrying emotional weight that was never meant to belong to you personally. I hold my characters very close to my heart, but I don’t stay inside them forever. Pegah is still somewhere else, protected.

dress RHEA COSTA
earrings and necklace SIF JAKOBS

With growing recognition and awards attention, how do you stay grounded?

I spent a lot of my life hearing two things at the same time, “Do you actually love acting or do you just want fame?” and also “This is an incredibly difficult industry to survive in.” So, even though I’m deeply grateful for any recognition the work receives, I think those ideas stayed with me. I know very clearly that the reason I do this is because I genuinely love the work itself. And I also know the attention won’t always be there. Every new role humbles you again anyway. No matter what happened before, you start over each time. There’s always a moment where you think, “I have no idea if I can actually pull this off.” In a strange way, I think that uncertainty keeps me grounded creatively. 

What kinds of roles are you most interested in exploring next?

I get very excited by the idea that there are still so many worlds and versions of myself I haven’t gotten to explore creatively yet. Horror has been incredibly good to me and I’ll always love the genre, but there are so many others I’m drawn to as well.

I would love to do an action hero role one day, something physical, bold, transformative. I’d also love to explore my comedic side in a cool rom-com because I amvery funny, just in a very specific way. 

More than anything, I just want to keep playing rich, complicated characters, and discovering new parts of myself through the work.

As your career continues to expand, what do you want to challenge yourself with creatively?

I definitely want to continue challenging myself as an actor and exploring range, but at some point I really want to move behind the camera as well. I’ve always wanted to write and direct. 

Spending years on sets has made me deeply fascinated by storytelling as a whole, not just performance, but tone, pacing, visual language, and psychology all of it. The more I work, the more I find myself thinking about stories, structurally, and visually, not just emotionally.

I’d love to eventually create worlds from the ground up in the same way other filmmakers and storytellers inspired me growing up.

top and bottoms NADINE MERABI
shoes DIOR
necklace LUV AJ
rings SIF JAKOBS and BAUBLEBAR

Outside of acting, what keeps you busy and fulfilled?

Outside of acting, I love home decor and creating spaces that actually feel like home. Put me in an empty room with a budget and I’ll be a happy girl. There’s something really satisfying to me about taking four empty walls and turning them into a space your body and mind genuinely crave for comfort.

It’s another form of storytelling and self expression for me. I love surrounding myself with art, textures, and objects that feel lived in and emotionally connected to something. At this point though, I’m running out of space in my own home, so I need other people to let me decorate theirs.

Also, a huge part of my life outside work is my two dogs. They keep me very grounded. No matter what kind of day I’ve had, I come home and they’re just excited I exist. There’s something very healing about that.

dress NADINE MERABI
shoes DIOR
earrings and ring BAUBLEBAR

TEAM CREDITS:

talent PEGAH GHAFOORI
photography IRVIN RIVERA
fashion styling MOLLY LEVIN at THE ONLY AGENCY
makeup TAYLOR HEALEY at THE WALL GROUP
hair SABRINA PORSCHE at HIGHLIGHT ARTISTS
light tech ANDREW LOPEZ
photography assistant MIO ASUMA
photography intern LUCKY NGUYEN
location STUDIO METROPOLIS LA
editor TIMI LETONJA
editorial director and interview JANA LETONJA