Actor Faran Tahir emphasised that South Asian and Muslim actors need to show and own their identity.
During an interview with Jamal Ouazzani for his podcast Jins, the Iron Man actor talked about working in Hollywood as a Pakistani-American and Muslim, and had some words of wisdom for budding actors.
Talking about the challenges he faced early in his career and the typecasting traps he did not want to fall into, Tahir said that when he started working as an actor, there weren’t many other South Asian Muslim actors.
“There weren’t too many good roles that we could bring our talents to, and there was not enough choice of talent. So there was that issue,” he added.
Tahir then decided to do more theatre, which he deemed different from film and television. “Being an actor of colour and of a different origin, I figured that if I could handle verse, if I could do Shakespeare, if I could do those things, there was a place for actors like me where I could do challenging stuff and not feel like I’m not really growing.”
Tahir said he made a list of things that might lead to him being rejected from roles, and as a person of colour, he did not want to change the colour of his skin. “I am and don’t want to change what I believe in. That’s who I am. So what are the things that I can change?”
The actor continued that he could be told he wasn’t trained enough or couldn’t do Shakespeare, therefore, he went and received training and learned things.
“So, for who we are, we can use certain things assigned to us as our weaknesses, right? I mean, for some people, our colour is our weakness, or our faith is our weakness, or our gender is, whatever that is. Or there’s another way to look at it, which is the way I want to look at it, but which is that these are your uniqueness.
“They’re not our weaknesses, you know, so find the strength in it rather than be dejected by it.”
Playing Raza in Iron Man
One of Tahir’s most iconic roles was Raza, the super-villain in Marvel’s Iron Man. During the interview, the actor was asked how he collaborated with the production team to build a character that avoided caricature while being conscious of Muslim representation.
“I mean, again, I have to give a lot of credit to the production because it was one of the flagship films for Marvel. Iron Man kind of like started off this whole thing. So they were also very open to making it as authentic as possible, which allowed us to really have good dialogue, good conversations back and forth between us.”
Tahir maintained that it was important for him to look at the character rather than assigning a faith or region to him. He continued that he thought Raza was a mercenary and a soldier of fortune.
“And that’s where his terrorism or his maniacal side is coming from. Rather than implanting that, putting it deeper into the religious part of it, let’s really look at it. And so we had those conversations, right? And we were able to take away any real allusions or any references to, you know, to Islam or to faith or to people of that side.
“We also did little things in it, like we used different languages so that it didn’t really make it look like it was one particular people, like Afghans or whatever, right?” Tahir added that worldliness was important to him rather than making the character a savage.
‘Global world’
Tahir asserted that no matter his ethnicity or religion, he could play any character, because “we live in a very global world now.”
“It’s a global market, you know? So, I think these colours that we can bring to stories, I think, are not invaluable, for one thing, and I think they also depict and celebrate the diversity that we globally have.”
He maintained that while it was an actor’s job to expand themselves and do everything, he would like to bring his own colours to the character because his own background was rich.
“There’s a history there. There’s a history.”
Changing perception in Hollywood
When asked which one of his roles was the most pivotal in changing perceptions of South Asian Muslims in Hollywood and Muslims in general, the actor said there wasn’t ever a pivotal role.
“I think it’s a journey. It’s our duty, it’s our pleasure, it’s our obligation to keep on bringing newer angles to the whole thing.”
He continued that he was blessed to get certain roles because of who he was, and other roles, such as science fiction characters, that he received not because of who he was rather what he was able to do.
Tahir then spoke about balancing the representation of his cultural background authentically while adhering to the creative vision of directors. He said that the first challenge was to have conversations that were constructive, not combative, a balance he believed was hard to achieve.
“But I think that is where the key lies, right? So we can engage people in constructive conversations. In doing so, it’s not always guaranteed that you will win this time, but you must still fight the battle.
“If I engage in a conversation and things don’t go my way, you know, and I have to find some kind of a compromise, okay. But by having that conversation, I’ve put that germ, that idea, that, you know, that concept in the other person’s mind, at least, to think it over.”
He added that then, when the person had the conversation with someone else, the outcome might be different.
‘Good Muslims, bad Muslims’
When asked if he could play the role of a villain as a ‘Muslim looking person’ and still give texture to the character, Tahir said there were two things he needed to work on as an actor.
He continued that he looked at the script and examined if there was a counterpoint — a good Muslim person.
“So if there’s that balance, then okay, there are good Muslims, bad Muslims. We get that. The good Christians, bad Christians. I mean, you know, good humans, bad humans, right?”
He said that if the script was too one-sided, then it was gratuitous and had “an agenda involved in it,” adding that not all work was good work.
Tahir said he made ends meet or paid his bills by keeping his background in theatre alive, doing television and voice work.
“So there are ways to do that, right? And that also gives me the ability to pick and choose sometimes. Which, in the beginning, I’ll be totally honest, when you’re starting your career, you don’t have that ability.”
He highlighted that his rule while choosing roles was that if he couldn’t look at his self in the mirror when he woke up, then he shouldn’t be doing that role.
Advice for young South Asian actors
Giving advice to young South Asian and Muslim actors in Hollywood, Tahir echoed his earlier words and told newer artists to avoid roles that wouldn’t let them look at themselves in the mirror.
He clarified, “I mean, I’m not putting any value judgment on anybody.”
The actor’s second piece of advice was for South Asian and Muslim actors to keep showing their numbers.
“I mean, we see doctors and we see cab drivers and we see storekeepers and we see designers and we see all kinds of people who are from our part of the world. We are now part of this reality. We need to show our identity and own our identity.”
