Episode Transcript
Femininity is powerful in all its forms, exceptional women, rare girls must be appreciated in every
way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts, and their unique ways of being.
Rare girls are inspiring and this is what this podcast is all about.
Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Samin Alami.
Samin is originally from Tehran, the capital of Iran, but she has been living in Malaysia
for more than 13 years. Samin is currently studying English literature in her final year
at UPM in Malaysia and working in the field of cinema in her country, Iran.
She has a small resume of working as an actress in short movies and working as an assistant
director. Her interests are mainly in drama and cinema and she is also working in a theatre
production in Malaysia right now. Samin's big dream is to become an actress and to have
her own production because it was her passion since she was a little kid. In her free time,
she loves to watch movies and to play tennis. Samin, how are you today?
I'm feeling great, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
It's my privilege, my honor, and such a wonderful way to explore who you are. A bit more so
I'll begin with this question. If your friends and the people who know you were to describe
your personality, what would they say about you?
Well, I think that I'm sort of that kind of person which is really different. I mean,
I have a different character to my close friends other than other people. So if I want to say
what my friends might describe me, it would be an independent woman and a friend which
is giving advices in all different situations and a powerful person maybe or better I say
strong because I've been through so many different situations that my friends really appreciate
me that how I came out out of those kind of situations.
Thank you. So strong and independent and a good friend to your friends and therefore
I'm not asking specifically about the situations but a lot of people when they go through hard
situations I might give up or get totally traumatized. What was about your approach
or your belief or your way of thinking that allowed you to emerge like a phoenix stronger
from difficult situations rather than become bitter and hurt?
The thing is about me. I think that I was always full of joy. I always had faith. I
always had dreams and always this kind of dreams that I wanted to reach which made me
that not give up in any situations at all. Like I was in some moments. It was some moments
that I really felt like maybe I should just end it. I've never actually thought of suicide
but it was some moments that you could decide to have a suicide or something. But for me
it was the dreams which made me not to give up. I was raised like this to not give up
in any situations.
Thank you. And how is this related to drama and cinema and being an actress? Is it because
all movies have difficult times and the hero or the protagonist finds a way to solve it
and have a happy ending? Or is it that you are free to be any person in the world and
that is interesting for you to play different characters? Or what is so fascinating for
you as well as helpful to you when going through hard times that is caused by your love for
drama, movies and acting?
I sort of think that this is actually what made me a powerful person, a strong person.
You know the thought of being someone else. I've always wanted to act as another person.
So this is my passion actually. But in real life also it had affected my real life too.
Like I was always thinking in my hard times, I was always thinking with myself that what
would a strong character do if she was like in my own, in my situation? How would she
react to these kind of things? And that actually made me to act as a strong person which led
me to be as this strong person too in my own life. And having a strong character is not
easy, I got to admit it. But if you want it, you can make it. You know the passion I always
had for drama comes from these hard moments I had that maybe in some moments I wanted
to be someone else, go through another stuff, not like hard moments. So this all had its
own affection on me to become this powerful person, to not give up in any moments.
Thank you. And what do you look for in people that you consider to become your friends?
Are you looking also for people who have survived very hard moments and therefore became strong
and wise and interesting? Or are you looking for open-minded people who accept you no matter
what or people who love acting and it's necessary for that as well? Or what characteristics
make you when you meet someone think, yes, this is my kind of person?
Well, I don't specifically look for people who have like the same interests as me. But
like when I look through all my close friends, I see that most of them, just like me, been
through some hard moments in their life. They know what does it feel to be in hard moments.
They know the feeling of trying to be strong, to not give up. And I think usually these
kind of things make people close to each other. To know some feelings that we have like this
connection towards some feelings. We have felt the same feelings altogether. So this
might be one thing that I look forward to people that I get to know. And I like to like
have this communication with them, interactions and stuff. But like most of my friends are
like just people with so many different interests. Like I don't really, when I'm thinking like
my best friend isn't like even into drama or cinema or these kind of things. But she's
been through the stuff that I've felt. So it's like understanding of feeling. I think
this makes the connection so much deeper.
That's so interesting. And to ask you as an actress, especially with your experience in
theater, how do you express energy when you are acting? Do you feel like the energy of
the audience and you take that and bring it back when you're acting in order to have more
energy in your performance? Or are other actors in a way exchanging energy with you? Or what's
the role of the energy of the moment in the way that you perform?
I always feel like that the energy that the audience gives to actors are like really effective.
But like on the other hand, I should mention that actors or actresses each actually have
different sort of thinking. But as for me, I should say that, you know, it comes deep
from my heart. When I play a character, I understand the character. I turn to the character.
It's like I'm no more me, myself, Salmin. I'm like that character. In like some time,
I'm living as this character and the energy comes from my heart. It's not something that
like I do or like I make. It's coming from my heart. So the energy is like something
that I feel it. It's not something that I do.
Thank you. That's so interesting. And therefore, when you're being involved in cinema as an
actress, there isn't much like there is no audience that's giving you energy. How do
you draw the energy that allows you to play that character and understand it? Is it from
the human connection? When you're playing that character, you feel you are that character
or do you feel connected like you're a loving parent to that character? Or how does it work
when there is no audience in a cinematic way?
The thing is that in my life, I always try to make friends and have connection with various
types of people, like the people that are completely different from my own character,
introverts, extroverts, and all kind of people that are different, you know. So this sort
of connections make me to like get to know different types of characters, different types
of people. And it helps me in cinema too. Because when I see the script, when I try
to understand the character that I'm supposed to play, what I think about that how does
this character is thinking? What kind of person is this person? And I look into my connections
around myself, the people around me, and I take some points of each person around me,
and I make this character in my own mind. And I turn to this person, this person which
is, which doesn't exist at all, but I got to be that person. I think the energy comes
from the people around me. You know, we always in life, I think that we always get energies
or energies from the people around us. So it is important to have various types of people
around us. But like also have people with good energy, so we won't lose it at some
points.
I love that. And I love your involvement with people and your interest in humanity. Are
you an empath when you meet people you said you're different when you're with your friends
than to strangers? But are you able to feel the textures of their emotions, their energy,
their pains? And when they tell their stories, you can relate and imagine yourself in such
situations. Tell me about this side of interaction with human beings, and how you use your talent
as an actress in order to connect with them, to understand them, to inspire them and be
inspired.
Well, at this point, I got to have a confession. And that would be that it's so easy for most
of the actors to make friends with any kind of people. Even if we hate someone, we can
still try and act to be friends with that kind of person. Even we hate them. Even like
we have hatred towards them. It's not really a good thing. But I think this makes this
makes us to have this opportunity to get to know the people that we hate too. And this
actually gives you many positive things and negative things, of course. But it's a thing
that I always liked about being an actor and acting, you know, for actors, especially for
me. Acting was always a good opportunity in my own life, not only in cinema and in theater,
but in real life, too. It gives you the opportunity, many opportunities, actually. I sort of think
that having connection with people is something really effective in people's life. Like we
come from our connections, our character. If you're charismatic, if you're a kind person,
if you're an introvert person, calm, quiet, and anything, it all comes from your connections.
So I feel like people and connections are one of the most effective thing in your life.
It gives you and it shows you your path, your race, your life. You may choose and change
so many decisions while you're having your connections. People can be really effective
in each person's life. I really, really, really love that. And can you tell me about your
life in Malaysia as an Iranian girl? Is your culture now more Iranian or Persian? Or is
your culture multinational, like you're a citizen of the world? Or how was life these
13 years in Malaysia? Do you feel integrated into the country or a bit like you're living
little Tehran within the city? Or how does it go? Malaysia is actually such a great place
to come and visit. They're so warm. They're such warm people and so kind. And trust me,
when I say you've got to visit Malaysia, you have to do it. But as a Persian girl, first
of all, I would like to give a shout out to the Persian girls, the girls of my country
right now, which are going in such a big thing. They are going through a protest right now.
And I hope that they get the freedom that they deserve. All of us, I feel like all the
people around the world, especially girls and women, need to have the freedom, the freedom
that they deserve. And shout out to them. I'd really like to take a moment to remember
them. And so many people actually passed away in these days. They've been killed. So I'm
giving this to them. I really appreciate their protest. And like about our own topic. I've
always been such a Persian girl, like I'm so involved to my own culture, to the Iranian
culture. And living in Malaysia never actually affected me being a Persian, especially me
and my family. I've been living with my family in Malaysia since I moved here. So I've always
been living in a Persian, fully Persian culture. You know, Malaysia is actually is such a good
country for people that can't adapt new cultures, because it's a country full of different cultures.
And they accept all the all different cultures. It's a touristic country. So they accept everyone.
And this actually makes you to save and have your own culture at the moment that you're
meeting with other cultures. It's a multicultural country. So it's lovely, actually, I really
appreciate it. But it's been really great. It's like I'm visiting one country, having
my own country with me, but also seeing other cultures from me. This is such an interesting
thing. Like, what I love about Malaysia is this multicultural thing they have.
I love that answer. It's absolutely wonderful. And to understand even more, yes, you spoke
about the Persian girls who are going through a very tough time right now. How would you
describe the culture or personality of a Persian girl? How is a Persian girl, for example,
different from a Malaysian girl or a girl from any other country? What is unique, different
and special about Persian girls? Well, through history, Persian girls have been
such a powerful and strong women, which always try to fight for their own rights. At the
moment, they're full of youth and beauty inside and out. And they're sort of force of nature.
And I think that Persian girls all have their own opinion. And to compare them to Malaysian
girls, I would say that they express their feelings so much more. I actually love Malaysian
girls too. I have so many friends in Malaysia, which are really lovely human beings. And
shout out to them too. But like, I see that they express their feelings more than Malaysian
girls. And they all have really bold opinions, which I think it's because of our difference
of our cultures. In Persian culture, women actually have their own place. And they express
their ideas, their thoughts and everything so easily, even though we are actually going
through a really hard time right now. But they express their feelings in families, in
friends, gatherings and everything so easily. But in Malaysia, I see that due to respect,
maybe, and manners, Malaysian girls are really polite and calm. And they are actually waiting
for others to express their ideas and thoughts. And they are actually a really good listener.
I think that makes the most difference between Persian girls and Malaysian girls. I'd say
that Persian girls are good talkers and Malaysian girls are good listeners. And they would make
a great pair of friends. That's wonderful. Thank you for this. And I know your dream
is to have your own production. What would be different, special or unique about it?
What would be the exciting thing for you about having your own independent production? How
did this dream start? And do you have plans for it? Tell me more.
Well, this comes from a childhood dream, actually. I remember when I was a child, I'm an only
child in my family. And I always used to play with my dolls and like talk to them and make
a scene, making a script, making a story. And it would just go on and on and on. And
so this started while I started to watch movies as a really young age. I started to watch
movies at a really young age. And after watching each movie, I'd continue the story and the
script of the movie with my own dolls. I would play as the protagonist of the movie and I
would just continue the story a bit. So after a while, I started to write my own stories,
my own scripts as I grew up, it got more professional. I took drama classes, script writing classes
and so many different classes and workshops. So like the thought of entering cinema and
cinema industry grew in me as I grew up, as I got older. It got bigger, bigger and bigger.
And I remember the dream got so serious. Back in 2015 in Malaysia, I saw this advertised
in one of the movie sites, which was mentioned like this. It was like, do you want to become
an actress? Do you want to have, do you have a big dream of being a model or actor and
this kind of stuff? And I remember that I clicked on it immediately. And I don't usually
like, I think all of us don't usually like click on this advertise in internet so easily
because we don't really trust them. We don't really look at them. But in that moment, I
don't know what, what came in me that I clicked immediately. And it was this addition in Malaysia,
which it was, it was actually a production in Hollywood, which came to Malaysia as a
tour and they would addition people and they would take them to Hollywood and would like
sign up contracts and stuff with different movies, series and stuff like that. And I
remember that I had to give my information for the addition. So I was a bit scared. I
didn't tell my parents in that moment, but I filled in the form and I sent it to them
and I got accepted and they wanted my picture. I was still so scared because I had to give
up my picture, but I did it too. And I got accepted in the first kind of additions, first
steps of the addition. And they sent me a monologue that I had to be prepared and they
gave me a date to go to an addition for them. So in that moment I had to tell my parents
and I did. And afterwards they were like, okay, we will go with you and see what's going
to happen. And we went together. My parents came with me, my mom and my dad, and I additioned
in front of around a hundred people. And in that moment, my parents actually believed
in me more than ever and I got accepted. But unfortunately in that time, I wasn't able
to go to America, but I remember that I had these emails going on with the producer who
accepted me. And it was such a big moment for me. And the fact that my parents started
to believe in me and had faith in me and they were like, you have to do this seriously.
You have to take it like professionally. You have to take classes. And that was the big
moment for me. The moment that my parents started to believe in me, I was like, I have
to do this. I've got to do this. I have to reach to my childhood dreams and stuff. And
then I started writing all these scripts and I was making friends with people in cinema.
I would just like contact with them. And then in one of my workshops, one of the drama workshops
I went to, the director came and he was like, do you know how to write? I was like, I actually
write a bit. And he said that bring your script to me. And I showed my script to him. And
after that, he offered me a job to be his assistant in script writing. And it all started
in that moment. And then I, through like all these works, through all the productions I've
been, I was thinking that I want to make my own movie. I want to make it the way I want
to, the way I feel, the way I want to express it. So it all got serious in those kinds of
moments. It was such a sudden thing. I said it, it just grew up with me. It grew bigger
and bigger and bigger. The dream grew big. So I think that was the journey I had.
That's a lovely journey, Samin. You're absolutely a wonderful human being. I can feel your soul
and that you can express it through acting. I encourage your success. I encourage your
goals and dreams. I believe you can attain all of them. And thank you so much for participating
in this podcast. It was a wonderful episode. Thank you so much, Aziz, for having me. And
I encourage all girls to not give up on their dreams. Be sure that you're full of wonderful
things, full of ideas. You just need to express yourself, find yourself through your journeys,
through your moments, through your hard moments especially, and be strong and never give up.
