Celebrity Interview | From Iran to Hollywood: Jewel Farshad on Freedom, Art, and Finding Her Voice - Meet Jewel Farshad

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffatarian look at entertainment in life with your host, Greg Staffa. My guest this episode is Jewel Frasard. She is born in Iran and is a singer, actress, model, content creator, and human rights activist. Jewel, thanks for coming on today.

Jewel Farshad 0:41

Thank you so much, Greg, for having me.

Greg Staffa 0:44

So being born in Iran, tell us a little bit about your upbringing.

Jewel Farshad 0:48

Actually, we call it Iran.

Greg Staffa 0:50

Iran.

Jewel Farshad 0:50

And it's okay because you know what? There are not enough education. There are not enough people like me to go and speak about it. And we it does get mixed with Iraq. Um, but yeah, we call it Iran.

Correcting “Iran” and Persian identity

Jewel Farshad 1:04

We call ourselves, our uh race, our background Persians because we are from Persia connected to you know, just being Persian, we're not Arabs. Uh, we just we'd like to define that. And yes, growing up in Iran, um, it was very interesting. It was very hard. There were times that I, you know, I wish I wouldn't have grown up in such a country, but at the same time, it has given me so much insight and has made me the person I am today.

Greg Staffa 1:38

You started performing as a child. Was it anything about where you're growing up that got you especially interested in? Was it an escape from you know life there? Or what was it that kind of triggered that that bug to get you to be interested in performing?

Jewel Farshad 1:55

Growing up in Iran and in our Persian culture, we actually love to dance. We love to perform. And since I remember, um, at home, we would have like house parties. And I think before I even started fully speaking, there are tapes of me just getting on the table, dancing, and you know, before I was potty trained, that's like literally one of my uncle's memory is that I got on the table and started putting on a show, and then I was not potty trained, and then when everybody started clapping, I almost peed myself. So they were like, oh my god, let's get her out of here. And I was like three years old. So I think this is just in

Childhood joy vs. public restrictions

Jewel Farshad 2:35

our blood, and there was that difference on the outside that women aren't allowed to do that. So at home, we weren't wearing the hijab, we're dancing and singing, even though it's banned and we have to keep it hush. You know, it's very similar to the West when alcohol was banned. You know, there were people still drinking in silence, but then outside, you know, you couldn't purchase it. So as I grew up and got older and really understood where I was living, I realized, oh, I can't actually do all of these things that when I was little I was doing and I was enjoying. Now life was different. Uh, from age seven, that's when I was forced to start wearing the hijab and I didn't really understand it. Um, my parents were always trying to explain things to me, yet they were worried if they give me the full picture and their full secular opinion that I would say that out loud at school, and then that would get us killed. You know, somebody would come to our house. And so they always were very careful about how I speak outside of home versus how we are in home.

Greg Staffa 3:45

And then what led to the US being on the family's

Hijab, secrecy, and safety at seven

Greg Staffa 3:50

radar?

Jewel Farshad 3:51

So um, when I was a kid, um, you know, I think uh any Persian who is before the revolution, they were educated or they wanted a life just like the way that Shah was, they always tried to leave Iran. My parents left Iran twice. My dad was a professor, so he left, he got his PhD from Vienna. We lived there when I was little for almost a year, and then we lived in DC. But my parents didn't overstate their visa, like really good people. The when the visa expired, they went back to Iran hoping that they could get a green card. But that led into 10 plus years of us being stuck in Iran. And then when I was 18 years old, I won a green card and a lottery, and that's what brought me here.

Greg Staffa 4:44

Oh, wow.

Family’s exits, visas, and return

Greg Staffa 4:45

And what was that like realizing that you had won? Because it was just for you then, correct?

Jewel Farshad 4:50

It was just for me, not my parents. It was, and I didn't even sign up. My sister put my name down, and like I said, we always, you know, we were very westernized, and that's something that you guys probably don't see. You know, you probably think of Iranians that like we're super anti-American, that we, you know, we would hate America, we're screaming death to America, burning the flag. But it's actually very different. That's the regime and the people of Iran. They love Europe, they love America. When 9-11 happened, you know, I know everybody who got went to the streets and they were holding candles for Americans, and you know, our people are very much connected to Americans. I was bilingual since I was born. So for us, it's very different.

Winning the U.S. green card lottery

Jewel Farshad 5:35

So the second I won my green card, my parents were like, okay, yeah, you're going. They they started like packing my bags before I was even ready. But yeah, that was the path. Um, and then after that, my sister went to Canada, and then you know, the rest of the family one by one started leaving Iran.

Greg Staffa 5:51

And what was that like then? I mean, because you had, like you said, you'd come before, you lived in DC briefly, uh, but this was now your new home, and you knew that you'd kind of locked it in. What was that like, that realization that this was now your future versus kind of the uncertainty and and having to move back?

Jewel Farshad 6:13

You know, Greg, what's really funny, and I don't know if you're into like the woo-woo stuff, but you know, when you ask like little kids, what do you want to be when you grow up? I remember my cousin one time asked me, like, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I think I was like eight years old. And my

First days in America and fears

Jewel Farshad 6:30

answer was, Well, first I'm gonna move to America and I'm gonna take off the stupid hijab, and then I'm gonna do whatever I want to do. And then everybody I remember around me looked at me like, oh my gosh, she's kind of cuckoo. And like, how are you planning on doing that? So when it happened, it was almost like I always knew it was going to happen. And so I didn't have a plan B. I knew it was going to be, I'm coming to America. What I was really worried about was how people were going to perceive me. The day I landed in LIX, I thought, oh my God, everyone's gonna think I'm a terrorist. Oh my god, they're gonna hate me. And I was so worried, like, are they gonna let me in? And I remember like being stuck at the border for almost an hour for them to go through all my paperworks, my interviews, everything. And I was worried they were not gonna let me in. And then after the guy stamped my passport, the funny thing is, he he asked for my number. He like asked me out, and I remember at that point I've never been asked out before. And I was like, why does this man want my number? And then later I went and like told someone, I was like, This guy asked me for my number. And I told him, I don't have a number, am I in trouble? And they were all laughing. They were like, no, no, no, he thought like you were pretty, and I was like, Oh, and then in LA, nobody really thought I was Middle Eastern, everyone thought I was more Hispanic. So I feel like I never had that experience that I was always worried about. That am I going to be in that Persian stereotypes, Iranian stereotypes? And my experience

Community roots in Southern California

Jewel Farshad 8:10

was always so welcoming in America.

Greg Staffa 8:13

Now you lived in DC briefly. Now you're in LA. Had you established, had your family established enough ties in the US that you had people that you could surround yourself with, or was this really an isolate? I mean, you're a young woman, you're in a new country that you're kind of familiar with, but not really. What was that like? And was there any kind of structure around you that had already been put in place?

Jewel Farshad 8:38

My mom's best friend lived here. So um she yeah, she was already here. I lived with her for a few months in Orange County and then um moved to LA, got my own apartment. You know, definitely we have that, you know, we have a very strong connection. Every we call everyone our cousin, everyone's like our aunts and uncle. It does like when you just kind of meet and get to know each other, everyone very much supports one another, even though you may not be like blood relative. So I'm so grateful for that kind of connection that helps me establish my life here in LA.

Greg Staffa 9:14

So you get settled in, you're in LA, you have the world ahead

Choosing art over expectations

Greg Staffa 9:20

of you, you're young, you're you have talent. What was that kind of path that you decided this is what I'm gonna do? What was kind of your education process? What what was your first kind of steps in assimilating into the US?

Jewel Farshad 9:37

Um, the first step was as soon as I got here, I enrolled in college. I I enrolled in Santa Monica College um because I needed to get, I needed I either take a TUFL exam or I needed some English courses in order to go to a university uh from my with my high school diploma. So I had to do that. Then I started applying for colleges. I got into Otis Parsons University and um that which is in LA, and I studied fine arts and my minor was in fashion and product design. It was very interesting because coming from a Persian background, my family was very much against me studying arts. I'm very, very smart. I went to like special children, gifted children school in Iran. So my the path for me was always like become an engineer and such because I was I had really high grades in math and physics. But my heart was always in arts. I just knew it like now that I finally had the chance to explore it, I had to do it. So I made a path with my dad, who's my dad passed during COVID, but we made a pack and I said, Okay, I'm I'm gonna go be an artist, but I promise you I'm gonna do my best

Pageantry as identity breakthrough

Jewel Farshad 11:00

to be very successful. And he said, Okay, I'll support you, I'll support your education, but you promise me, you know, you're not gonna flop. And I that's what I that I made that promise, and I've stuck to that promise to my family.

Greg Staffa 11:14

Now you started a professional career in LA in 2017. We were also that year crowned Miss Bel Air and then Miss California, USA. So pageantry was one of those avenues that you explored. Did you ever feel like you're an outsider coming in? I mean, what what got you into pageantry? I guess is my question.

Jewel Farshad 11:35

Yeah, I was studying arts and I was uh and also fashion design. So my very first uh introduction to pageantry was actually through fashion and working behind the scene. I created a line for Jean Juan Beverly Hills, and I was designing. And as I was designing, I think most girls they have this, you know, dream that what would it feel like to be in front of the camera? And um, somebody um that I was working with, one of the models, I knew she got her start with pageantry, and she said, you know what? There's no risk. Why don't you go do it? And there is an age gap with pageantry. So I think you age out like 26. So I was like, you know what, why not? I'm young, I'm gonna go just go do it. If it flops, I you just don't have to tell anyone, right? So I did my very first pageant with zero training with nothing in 2017 for Miss Belair. And I so I went in and I met one of the girls who was a winner. And I, you know, you win the pageants based on your bio, based on the interview. It's not a talent portion, it's based on your looks and how you carry yourself. So my bio, I wrote a very um almost like standard basic bio that wasn't really interesting, like, oh, I like Pilates and hiking and da-da-da. And she looked at me, she's like, No, who who are you really? And then I told her my life story, and she's like, I why don't I see any of that here? That you came from Iran, that there's no pageants in Iran, there's no modeling in Iran. So I leaned into that, even though I, you know, as an immigrant, I think you want to kind of hide that because it just feels weird. You don't want to be the outsider, the weirdo. And then she made me and helped me embrace it. And then I that when I went in front of the judges, they looked at me and they were like, oh my God, you went through all of this. And I said, Yeah, you know, just there are girls like me that go through this. And they were so impressed.

Embracing culture without the regime

Jewel Farshad 13:35

I won my very first pageant and just got my start, which my big start, but I think it was just because I really embrace the thing that I feared the most. I really embrace the flaw that I kind of saw in me that, oh my God, I'm a weirdo, I'm like this thing. I don't know how to tell people that I'm from Iran, but I'm still like I love them. We're not your enemies and stuff. And it just really set me apart.

Greg Staffa 14:03

Did doing that and having someone else kind of help you embrace your your culture? Did that I mean, I would say that a lot of Americans um were ignorant of your, you know, history, your country's history? I think there's a lot of right or wrong negativity apply to your your history. Um, because we simply weren't we're not educated. Did having someone like that kind of convince you to look at your history and to embrace it? Did that make you appreciate not the bad stuff, but appreciate some of the good stuff about your culture?

Jewel Farshad 14:41

Absolutely. You know, I I I was ashamed of my culture, not my culture, I was a sh I am still ashamed of the regime, the bad things, the murders, the killing. And like I said, it in order for that for me to talk about that, you need to understand that the regime is separate from the people and the culture. And the moment you see that different, you know, it's like Taliban versus Afghanistan, it's that IRGC versus

Rewriting Iranian stereotypes in media

Jewel Farshad 15:10

Persian culture. Then you can understand the difference, and then it really slowly made me real embrace that. And I think as a teenager, when we first we start like having all these shame and feelings towards like where what we grow up, right? And pageant really made me embrace that and then bring out the best part of it and add that value to other people's lives, to my life.

Greg Staffa 15:36

It almost sounds like to some extent, as much as you say you need to separate the the regime from the the people, you almost kind of fell into that same pattern where you were not you're not separating it yourself, even having lived it. And now once you're able to separate it, you were able to embrace the positive side and say, I am not the regime, I am the people, and there's some wonderful things about my culture that allowed you to then thrive because you discovered who you were and that your roots, not the regime, actually meant something to you.

Jewel Farshad 16:15

Exactly. That that's exactly the path that I went on.

Greg Staffa 16:18

So you started doing the fashion, you did. I mean, you have a real I would say a term we use here is like a buckshot approach to your career. I mean, you're not just an actress and model, you're an actress, a model, a singer, a content creator. What is your drive and what do you see yourself as as far as wanting to become? Is it just, I mean, like you told your your father that you know don't flop, uh, but you're taking on a lot of things that are many different kind of avenues. What is your direction that you see? Are you just going with the flow?

Jewel Farshad 16:59

Um,

Representation as purpose, not burden

Jewel Farshad 17:00

I'm definitely not going with the flow. I have a very specific direction, which is I am trying to create a new stereotype of Persian and Iranians in the industry, in the media. And I do look at my career as a whole. Um, before Salma Hayek, Hispanics played Maid, they played the comedy relief, right? Uh, or before Halle Berry, African-American played slaves or maids, or funny, you know, they didn't have leading roles. And when I first started in Hollywood, you know, of course I was brunette, I was in blonde, but still, still, everybody said you're vaguely ethnic, you are not dark enough, we're not sure where to put you. And I would go out for a lot of roles that were written for me before COVID. And I was always suicide bomber, terrorist, war-torn victim, which really what we're just talking about reminded me of the regime. And I hated those auditions because I was like, this is not the story I want to tell. I want to tell the story of the women that I know, the strong, brave women in Iran, that they go out in the middle of the street and say, I'm gonna take off my hijab. I don't care if you're gonna kill me. You know, that's the sassy attitude. That's the brave women that I know. So I want to create and write those stories. Um, and that's my goal with my singing, with my platforms, where I see myself as, you know, working and, you know, taking the path that a lot of icons took. The reason

Speaking to Iranians and Americans

Jewel Farshad 18:40

I went blonde is I wanted to recreate the Marilyn Monroe Madonna. That, you know, I do a lot of contents that I'm like blonde and I speak fluent farsi, and it just shocks people without me having to say anything about culture. Um, so that's a path I want to go on. I want to just create a new wave of Iranian women in media.

Greg Staffa 19:03

Is that I don't want to say it's an unfair burden, but is that because I mean, you mentioned, you know, Holly Berry. Halle Berry doesn't wake up each morning and say, you know, my my people used to be slaves. I need to. Is there an added burden to add your your culture? Not that it's a bad thing, but most actors and actresses don't have to worry about carrying on that legacy or educating. Is it something you welcome it, but at the same time, do you ever feel like somedays I just want to be a model? I just want to be a singer, I just want to be an actress based on my acting and not carry this kind of the weight of representation of your past. Does that ever kind of get to be a hindrance, or is that something you really welcome?

Jewel Farshad 19:56

No, it's never a block or it's never a burden. It's almost like actually before I leaned onto it, I had this gut feeling that I was like, I'm not, I'm not doing a service, like I'm here for a reason. The reason that I won the green card and the lottery, and not Masa Amini, not any of those thousands of girls who were murdered on the streets of Iran. Like, God, why in the world? Like, whatever.

A plea: stand with the people of Iran

Jewel Farshad 20:25

The force, why did you choose me to do this? You know, I almost feel like not that I'm I'm so special or whatever. I just feel like in a way, I was chosen to be the voice of these girls who died. You know, I don't feel like it's a burden. I feel like it's beautiful, and I I'm so lucky. I am so lucky to be here. I'm so lucky to be alive because you know, there's so much controversy about being an immigrant right now in America. But if it wasn't for this country, if it wasn't for my green card, I wouldn't have the life that I have today. Every single day I wake up and I'm grateful to be an American citizen. Every single day I wake up and I am blessed to have my life. So it's never been a burden. It's more of a like a calling that I am proud to do it. I just I just want to do it faster. I just want it to happen um in a larger scale, but it's never been a burden.

Greg Staffa 21:30

Have you ever thought? I mean, the work that you do on social media, uh, you're on,

Career pivots: acting, modeling, content

Greg Staffa 21:35

I believe, Instagram and TikTok, um and you do a lot of your cultural stuff on there. Is that are you able to connect? I know the regime controls a lot of what goes into that country. Is are you able to reach to some degree others back home? Are you able to make that connection or is it mainly are you doing it for them or are you doing it to help educate people like me that really don't know the culture, that don't know the history, but almost have a negative view based on the media telling us something more about the regime than the people?

Jewel Farshad 22:15

I think it's both, you know, uh it's mostly for them. And you're right. So in Iran, all of those are banned, and the girls have to use VPN and the boys, everybody you have to use VPN in order to access any of those apps. So for them to be able to even create content is very difficult. And secondly, they would be putting their life in danger by creating any kind of contents. In the news, in the Iranian news, every single day, bloggers get arrested and thrown in jail. Um, you know, and with that being said, my own mom and sister have been in political prison, just you know, like it this it's very common. I've had family members who were taken overnight like Nazis and shot just because they said one

Roles, language, and on-set shifts

Jewel Farshad 23:05

thing. So, and and also I am I live in exile. I'm not allowed to go back to Iran. My, like I said, my dad passed during COVID, and unfortunately, he was in Iran at that time, and I couldn't go bury him. I couldn't, I never said goodbye to him, you know, because and when I was thinking if I should go back for his funeral, everyone in my family said, Are you crazy? Do you know they're gonna throw you in prison? And he wouldn't want that, he would want you to live there and do whatever you're doing from there, right? So I think it's mostly like the connection comes from doing it for them. And I've been getting so many positive feedbacks from people like you guys, because there are tons of people that follow me now that have that same opinion about radical regime taking over the worry of that Europe is going to be like that, you know, given the current political um, you know, things that are happening. So they are happy that I'm educating because they want people to talk about what happens when radicalism takes over and it really makes children suffer. Um, so in a way, I am connecting with both.

Greg Staffa 24:26

What would be, and I don't want to diminish this or

Looks, blending in, and diversity

Greg Staffa 24:30

or reduce it just to one thing, but what would be the biggest your top message to people like me that really don't know about the history of the culture? What's one little tidbit that you could that if you could just educate everyone just to get that seed planted, what would it be?

Jewel Farshad 24:50

We need you guys to stand with us, with the people of Iran. I am gonna be in I mean, I'm already in trouble with the regime, but I know we didn't war is not the best way, war wasn't an ever the best way, but when you know there was the w talk of war with Iran a few months ago, it was the only light at the end of the tunnel we could see. And you know how sad and desperate you have to be that you're like, oh my god, this may actually free our people. We knew thousands of us can get killed, you know, but we just need America to stand with us in any shape and form because we love we love Americans, we you know, and and Europeans too, we just need everybody to stand with the people of Iran and help us get our country back and let people hear our voices.

Greg Staffa 25:50

Oh very well said going into now acting. You are an actress, you've been in some roles now. What was that like going from the

Why she loves acting, singing, modeling

Greg Staffa 26:00

modeling, the the fashion you keep on taking on these roles and you keep on having success? What what causes the bridge to the next thing? Is it just been a natural progression? What has that been like?

Jewel Farshad 26:14

Um, I first after pageant, I moved to acting, then the COVID acting was sort of like not moving forward in 2020. So I went back to modeling and content, and then again went back to acting and then acting. There was a strike. So it's not like that I was choosing to pick between the two. In the acting world, there's so many changes with the content with media changing and TV changing, that always pushed me towards content short form and modeling. Um, but my goal is I guess I see them all as a package, I see it everything coming together. So it's never been separate for me.

Greg Staffa 26:57

Sounds like as someone growing up that couldn't have a voice, now you're really looking to use that voice and kind of making up for lost time. Is that impacting the roles that you take? Are

Drive, discipline, and not “flopping”

Greg Staffa 27:10

you, you know, if the role of Susie, the the friendly blonde neighbor came up, is that something that you you jump at, or do you are you looking for more culturally impact roles?

Jewel Farshad 27:24

Um, no, I'm open to it. And it just, you know, it's funny because like one of the things I did, I I did get cast to play like this pretty blonde girl um a few months ago. And I got to set, and um, you know, right before we go in, and I'm doing an improv with one of the actresses, and she asked me, Hey, do you speak Spanish? And I was like, No, I speak farsi. And they had no idea I was Persian. Then in the scene, the writer director wrote me to start speaking farsi. And it was so interesting because like I see things almost shifting as like they they're like, wait, we've never seen this before. So there are people that they see my vision without me even saying it and add it, add value to that. But I'm always, you know, I'm open to it. Like he said, Halle Berry didn't wake up and be like, I'm gonna be the next sex symbol, or I'm gonna be this or that. Halle Berry wanted to be Halle Berry, she wanted to tell stories, and I'm the same way. I feel like um, more importantly, is being an advocate, being a voice and taking on bigger stages is the goal. Um, even if that's playing Susie.

Greg Staffa 28:34

To me, who you know isn't as familiar with your work, you look like

LA realities and U.S. surprises

Greg Staffa 28:40

an everyday person walking around Los Angeles. I I don't see the you know the the cultural part of it. Does that ever get frustrating that not that you don't look the look that people assume, but it's it you blend in great as an American. Your English is great. Is it is that ever kind of like I wish I looked more cultural?

Jewel Farshad 29:08

Not really. I think that there were times that I thought about that, but like I said, I would I wish that my before I was blonde, everybody said I look like Kim Kardashian. So I didn't like that branding, and like I like it could be far worse people to be called. That's true, but you know, just like Marilyn Monroe when she was brunette and she was playing more of like a smaller role, she didn't really stand out, right? Then Gene Harlow, there's so many blondes who then became this blonde bombshell. And like you said, it do I blend in? Yes, I do blend in, but I also at the same time stand out because I'm not like the other blonde bombshale LA girls. In Surface, I look like them, but I'm not really, which puts me in a different category than the girl. Like, I couldn't compete with the girl who looks more ethnic.

Organizing a multi-hyphenate career

Jewel Farshad 30:00

Ethnic than me. I just can't. But then at the same time, here's here's the thing: Persians, we're not what we you see on camera. Like, we're not like super dark. Like, not if you're walking in Tehran, it probably looks like you're walking in California. We are very mixed. We have North African mixes. We uh Russia is north of Iran, so we have naturally blonde, green-eyed people. We have Mongolian mix of like people that look more Asian. So it's very, very diverse. Um, it's only in America that, not even in Europe, because in Europe it's super mixed, so they wouldn't think that. But it's only in America that people think that Middle Easterns should look a certain way, you know, like a little like caramel skin, dark, fabulous black hair. Not in Iran. Like we we already know that we're very diverse.

Greg Staffa 30:59

When you are acting, what do you find the love of acting about?

Jewel Farshad 31:03

So I started acting uh when I was a kid, and acting for us, what was allowed for in Iran was to do theater, Shakespeare's band, so we could take stories from Quran and turn them into plays. It

Stories she longs to tell

Jewel Farshad 31:20

was always like an all-girl production for an all-girl audience, like wearing basically trash bags, glorious, you know, like fully covered in burqa. But that's what we could do, right? So it was like I just loved playing as a kid. I just it was fun. It wasn't an escape, it was just it was playtime. And then as an adult, it I don't I'm not a method actor. To me, it is I just love telling stories, and um but singing though, that was different. Singing definitely felt like it, I had a lot of blocks, and it was hard to take that much space to breathe in so much and be so big. And modeling to me is also I play a character, unless it's like very much commercial, I'm just smiling and editorial. You just become a different character based on what you put on. You tell the story of the girl who's wearing this dress, and it's

Hopes for Iran’s future and reforms

Jewel Farshad 32:20

just fascinating to me.

Greg Staffa 32:22

Your father said not to flop. Uh, you're a successful model, you're a successful singer, you're you know becoming more and more successful as an actress, but the COVID and the strike kind of bad timing, but you were you've been successful in things. You're a successful content creator, you have a lot of followers and stuff like that, and the human rights advocacy that you've done has been successful. Like your father sounds like he was very influential on you, but it all hasn't been easy, I assume. As as easy as it looks on paper. What has been the driving force to be that successful in keeping that promise?

Jewel Farshad 33:01

I think it was always me. I always have I have a lot of expectations of myself. I've always been in a 4.0 GPA student. I just but that you know, I I think as a I always expected more from myself, and you know, even when you're saying all the things that I've done, I'm like, oh god, I could I could do better, I should have done more. Like, I'm like, that's not enough. But um,

Teasing an HBO Max project

Jewel Farshad 33:30

not that I I'm critical of myself, and I'm like, oh, I can I can I can push harder, I could do more, I could do one more mile. But that's that's always been that, and also we live only once, we don't know if we're gonna live again, right? So I want to live the fullest.

Greg Staffa 33:46

We had mentioned some of the preconceived notions that people like me have about you and your culture. Uh, you had lived here a little bit, you said in in DC, so you you you kind of got a little bit familiar, but as a young adult coming here, I mean you were what 12?

Jewel Farshad 34:03

Um when the first time we came in, I was um I was

Closing reflections: seeing “little me”

Jewel Farshad 34:10

like three or four years old, and then I came here 18.

Greg Staffa 34:14

18.

Jewel Farshad 34:14

Yes.

Greg Staffa 34:15

What what were some of the biggest surprises for you? Because DC is very different than than LA is. So when you came here, you won the lottery. What were some of the big misconceptions that surprised you about the US?

Jewel Farshad 34:30

LA is so dirty. That was my first thing. And I was like, oh my gosh, like, you know, DC is much cleaner. I feel like LA was not what I expected to be, what it's shown on TV. It's so big. There are so many other issues in uh Los Angeles alone, you know, homelessness and just like so many things like that. Um, lack of public transportation. I think the very first hard thing I had was like immediately get a car and start um learning to drive and everything just so far apart. Um, culturally speaking, it was not much of that. It's just Los Angeles, like I said, everything is so wide and vast. So in order to accomplish the things you want to like one thing can be one side of the city, the other thing can be the other side of the city. And in realistically, they might be only five miles apart, but in traffic, it takes like an hour and a half to get to one location and back. So that was so difficult for me. And post-COVID, that just made our life easier, and now we just get on Zoom and take care of that instead of sitting in traffic for hours to have like a 15-minute meeting or such.

Greg Staffa 35:50

You joke an hour and a half to get across town. I think that's being a little bit generous, having visited LA several times. Um, have you had a chance to see much of the US in your your career and travels now?

Jewel Farshad 36:05

Yeah, not on East Coast. I would say um, I did take a trip um basically all west of uh the coast. My sister lives in Canada, so did a little road trip from California all the way to um she's in Calgary to Alberta. So I got to see most of that. I've been to Miami, New York, um, but I definitely need to travel more. America is so big, and there are just so many places to explore.

Greg Staffa 36:35

How do you choose between the model aspect, the singer aspect, the the acting? How do you know what your path is next? And how do you make those decisions?

Jewel Farshad 36:46

I'm very organized. I try to have um create time for different things and just see how far, you know, I'm just basically pushing these, you'd say different pillars at the same time. And then I see which one resonate more with the audience, and you know, you kind of pick with pick that and push that a little bit forward, right? So that way that pillar could bring the other one higher, right? So, my goal, I guess my next five-year goal is to create more content, go viral, work with more creators to create more awareness and actually let people know who I am. And where do I see myself? I see myself, um, I'm already writing stuff. I see myself as a writer, um, directing my, yeah, maybe not writer, producer, but I do also want to give a TED talk, educator, work with the UN. Um, I could age out of modeling, but also modeling has been evolving so much post-COVID that there are models in their up until their 60s, but it would more be more of a brand ambassador, right? For a brand. Um, so I think things will shift and singing will always be there. I I don't see myself as being like, oh, I'm gonna be a pop star or this and that. It's more like singing allows me to be bigger in every aspect that I am in. And I love working with Persian channels, with American channels to just bridge that gap, like you were mentioning. And I think the difference between me and other people is there are some people that are very passionate about Iran, but they get angry that Americans or Canadians or whatever are not as educated. But I don't, I genuinely don't, because I feel like my country is not doing a great job of like educating people, right? So how would you know? How would you know if that has not been in front of you? How would you know there are different races in Iran if you haven't seen that in school, right? So it's my job as an Iranian to be, you know, politically correcting that in a really positive, fun way. Because that way you're like listening to me and we're having an amazing conversation together.

Greg Staffa 39:08

So let's say, and I could only dream, but let's say Steven Spielberg was listening to this podcast, and he says, Wow, Jewel is an amazing woman. I want to give her Steven Spielberg money and say, I want you to tell a story, um, you know, a movie that tells, you know, a story that's important to you about your culture and whatnot. Is there a story out there that you would would love to be able to afford to tell?

Jewel Farshad 39:37

I think it would one of the best stories that would I would love to tell it is the story of women's life freedom, but I don't like to make a story that is it's just that, you know. I love um stories that are kind of it's like a blanket into like it's it's there, but you're not making it about that. It could be a a story like once upon a time in Hollywood, right? The way that they told the story of the murders. It wasn't about murder, it was about two guys living there in LA. It was a little fun story, or it could be a love story that that message is in there. Um, so I definitely would love that. And also, um, Francis Coppola, he he talked about a lot of Shahnameh, which is one of our biggest books in Iran. You know, I would love to bring in some more ancient stories from our culture, from Rumi, things that have been forgotten.

Greg Staffa 40:35

Now you mentioned possible war. Do you do you ever see, and that was kind of the first sign of light that you saw? Do you ever see a time in your lifetime where things maybe not necessarily get better in, but open up more where the communication, the the ability to speak freely is a little bit more there?

Jewel Farshad 41:00

Absolutely. You know, I'm I'm an advocate for any country that move is moving forward and allowing more um like human rights and acknowledging women. And one of them is you're looking at Saudi Arabia, is a country that is actually Arab, that is traditionally Muslim. It's it was the birth of the religion. And look at them now. The king of Saudi Arabia has made it the women have the right to choose whether they want to wear hijab or not, they have the rights to get their passport, they have the rights to get education, they have the rights to drive, travel, divorce, like they are moving forward with the 21st century. And I would, that's the same thing that we want. It doesn't always have to be in a military action. We're really hoping for something that is peaceful that comes from Iran, and it would just, you know, just take us to the next thing that people, the people of Iran really deserve to live that life.

Greg Staffa 42:04

Nice now. Wrapping things up, is there anything on the horizon that fans of yours can look forward to? Anything that you can can talk about or hint that you you have coming up?

Jewel Farshad 42:14

I have a really fun project uh coming up next year, early next year, 2026. It's gonna be on HBO Max. I can't really talk about the um top like what show it is, but it's gonna be really fun.

Greg Staffa 42:29

Nice. And then finally, uh, and again, thanks for coming on. But finally, one of the things I asked to all my guests is you know, we look at Jewel and we say she's an actress, she's a model, she's a singer, she's a content creator. But when you get up in the morning and you go into the bathroom, you splash a little water on your face, and then look in the mirror, who is it that you see?

Jewel Farshad 42:53

Oh, little baby me, who never thought I would be here today.

Greg Staffa 42:59

Well said. Well, Jewel, I think it's safe to say that even though your father's not with us, uh, you have not flopped. Uh and so congratulations on that. I think uh you've been amazingly successful, and I think a lot of it, it's almost too bad you've been this successful this easily, because I don't think it is easy as it sounds on paper. I think there's a lot of hard work, and you don't come from where you've come from uh without doing hard work. So I almost wish it looked a little bit harder for you because I think there's a lot more hard work that was involved that doesn't appear to be involved, but I'm looking forward to seeing where your career takes you, seeing what happens uh on HBO Max next year. And just want to thank you for coming on.

Jewel Farshad 43:47

Thank you so much for having me. This was so amazing.