Episode 280 - Arian Moayed

Arian Moayed is an Iranian-born award-winning actor and the co-founder of Waterwell, a civic-minded and socially conscious non-profit art and education company. With Waterwell, recent productions include The Flores Exhibits, a series of videos in which artists, lawyers, advocates, and immigrants read the sworn testimonies of children held in detention facilities at the U.S./Mexico border (flores exhibits.org), The Courtroom: a re-enactment of one woman’s deportation proceedings, named "Best Theater of 2019" by The New York Times, and a dual-language Hamlet (Arian played the title role). Waterwell also created Fleet Week Follies, an annual festival of music, food, and kid-friendly activities, free to military service members and their families. At the Waterwell Education Program, over 250 students per year receive world-class arts training and education in advocacy at the Professional Performing Arts School, all free of charge. He has been a faculty member for nearly 15 years, currently teaching the Artist as Citizen and Senior Capstone classes. As a writer/director, Arian has created the Emmy-nominated thriller, The Accidental Wolf, produced by Topic, starring Tony-winners Kelli O’Hara, Laurie Metcalf, Sahr Nguajah, and many more. Current writing projects include 28 Mordad (upcoming), a film version of The Courtroom (Archer Gray/Topic) and a film adaptation of The Man in Red. He is currently writing an autobiography about his family’s immigration story. Notable acting credits: Broadway's The Humans (Drama Desk Award), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony nomination), Guards at the Taj (Obie Award), Emmy-winning Succession (HBO), and an upcoming Shonda Rhimes’ series, Inventing Anna (Netflix). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices