The actress offers her take on Muslim representation on screen, '90s fashion, and Seth Rogen's pottery skills.

While calling over Zoom from her Los Angeles apartment, 29-year-old Iranian-American actor Medalion Rahimi has her jet black hair pulled back into a sleek bun adorned with clips. Her eyes are softly lined to give her the sultry look she is known for. Making herself comfortable, she pulls her knees up to her chest and begins to play with the stack of necklaces resting on her neck.&nbsp;
From her clothes to her bedspread to the salt-lamp glowing in the corner, Rahimi&rsquo;s aesthetic is serene and spiritual. The actress is a first-generation American from a Jewish-Muslim family, so her beliefs are quite fluid and open.&nbsp;
According to Rahimi, her father chose her English name after watching a movie, perhaps foreshadowing her future. &ldquo;When I was born, he said that I was glowing like a little golden nugget. So they named me Medalion.&rdquo; Names have significance in the South West Asian and North African (SWANA) regions. Names are precursors to one&rsquo;s fate, and Rahimi is certainly fulfilling her potential as a shining star.&nbsp;
After joining the 'NCIS: Los Angeles' cast in 2019, Rahimi made history as the first hijabi series regular on network television. Her most recent role as Danielle on 'Pam &amp; Tommy' similarly breaks boundaries in the SWANA community. She plays a queer woman of colour alongside heavyweight stars like Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogen, and more. Following the Pam &amp; Tommy series finale, Rahimi opens up to L'Officiel about her family history, SWANA stereotypes and representation, and the roles she hopes to play in the future.&nbsp;

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: 'Pam &amp; Tommy' is such a commercial success, what was it like to be part of that project?&nbsp;
Medalion Rahimi: So I actually had auditioned for a different role, and then they came back to me with Danielle. As soon as I read it, I was like, absolutely. She's such a character, and she's kind of like the voice of reason and sort of like a grounding force in the scenes between like Seth Rogen and Taylor Schilling, who are just such wonderful and talented people.
 LO: Had you worked with any of the actors before?
MR: Not the actors, no. Seth Rogen was also producing it. So that was a big part of why I wanted to do it. He's so down to earth, like he makes you feel so comfortable that you wouldn't think like, Oh, my God he's my executive producer! Like, I gotta be on my best behaviour.&nbsp;It was never like that. We just bonded over ceramics the whole time.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
LO: Oh my god, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CW6123zveI9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">his ceramics on Instagram</a>.
MR: They&rsquo;re awesome! He has a special recipe for those glazes. I'm trying to get him to tell me!

LO: It&rsquo;s so funny because it&rsquo;s the last thing you would expect from someone like him. But with regards to Danielle, you mentioned her grounding energy. What else about the character drew you in?
MR: The fact that she is so comfortable in herself. She&rsquo;s free. She&rsquo;s open. I think all the roles that I tend to gravitate towards are people who just don&rsquo;t give a f***, you know? And part of the reason is like it&rsquo;s a queer character, for sure. I have played some queer characters in the past, but this was different.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
LO: Yeah, finally, we&rsquo;re seeing people that look like us who are also queer, who have always existed.
MR: Yeah, exactly. I think that&rsquo;s important. I don&rsquo;t want to get too boxed in. I&rsquo;d never played someone like Danielle, and I think it&rsquo;s important for SWANA people to portray these self-confident and like sexually aware people, and open people to sort of shake up the box a little bit, shake things up. Like, "Ooh, a brown girl who&rsquo;s like a little bit sexual?!"
Sometimes there&rsquo;s a stereotype of a promiscuous brown girl that I&rsquo;ve had to play in the past that I don&rsquo;t want to anymore. But yeah, it&rsquo;s finding that balance and keeping things fresh and different. I&rsquo;ve never done an R-rated project before. I&rsquo;m trying to make the roles I take more mature, things like that. So it&rsquo;s exciting.&nbsp;
 LO: You&rsquo;re either hypersexualized or have absolutely no sexuality present whatsoever.&nbsp;
MR: No sexuality. Yeah, exactly. It&rsquo;s one or the other. And yeah, it&rsquo;d be nice to find it&rsquo;s just like normal people with complex balance.&nbsp;

LO: What was your experience like with the makeup and hair department? What was it like going back to the '90s?&nbsp;&nbsp;
MR: Oh my gosh, it was so cool. First of all, it's crazy that the '90s is a period piece now. I'm like, I guess I'm vintage! I ended up getting Moe and Abby, who did makeup for Pam, and I just happened to get them like, luckily. My makeup, as you could tell, was so minimal, but they're incredible! I remember seeing Lily James for the first time and I was like...no way. That's Pamela Anderson. There was no way. But yeah, incredible transformation. They deserve all the recognition.&nbsp;
I heard that the Oscars are actually deciding not to announce things like hair and makeup and all these other departments during the show. I think that's just... it doesn't feel right. They're one of the earliest people there because they have to wait for you to come, and actors are one of the first people there because we gotta get ready before we get on set. So they worked so hard and they deserve all the recognition. And I love to see the diversification in crew as well these days, like before I feel like it was predominantly male. Normally a certain race. And now it's really, really great. It's like a mixing pot. 
LO: What&rsquo;s your favourite '90s fashion trend?
MR: I love a bucket hat. Fonzie bucket hats specifically. L.L. Cool J, who's on 'NCIS L.A.', started that trend I feel like. I guess that's the '80s, but it leaked into the '90s. So much of it has come back. Low rise jeans. Thank God, they're back. I hate high-waisted pants. I'm glad I don't have to wear those anymore.

LO: On 'NCIS', you play a female SWANA agent: Fatima Namazi. What did that mean to you? What was appealing about that role to you in the first place?
MR: With most of the roles I&rsquo;ve gone out for that specifically call for someone from the SWANA region. It&rsquo;s usually a spy or, you know, like a terrorist, enemy role. So when I saw that they were casting a hijabi to play an agent? I was like, this has never been done before. So it was exciting to finally break through that stereotype and show someone who wears a hijab as a hero, essentially.
By portraying this character, I wanted to show shared humanity. Seeing someone that doesn&rsquo;t look like you, that&rsquo;s not from the same country as you, but that you can relate to. So many universal ideas, so many universal experiences that we all share, regardless of our background or our beliefs. And I just wanted to show that someone can look different from you and you can still love them as a character on TV. 
LO: What is your favourite part about playing Fatima? Do you relate to her? Or is she entirely different from you?
MR: She&rsquo;s very high-tech. I&rsquo;m pretty low-tech myself. She can kick ass. I like to say that I could if I needed to, but definitely not the way she does. She&rsquo;s basically everything I want to be. She is smart. She is strong. She lives her life by her beliefs, and she&rsquo;s unapologetic about it, and I love that. Sometimes if I&rsquo;m in public, shooting on location or something, and wearing the hijab, I&rsquo;m like, I feel a little nervous. That&rsquo;s&hellip;so sad to feel that way. But it&rsquo;s really eye-opening. It&rsquo;s given me so much respect for hijabi women. Every day is a fight for them. It shouldn&rsquo;t be like that. You shouldn&rsquo;t be living to survive. You should just be able to live. 
LO: What was representation like for you growing up? How has it changed?
MR: I think as you know, there wasn&rsquo;t... There wasn&rsquo;t much. I always looked up to artists like Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, all these actors. But no one ever looked like me. That&rsquo;s a big reason why I wanted to get into the industry. I wanted girls watching TV just to feel represented and seen. But now, absolutely, it&rsquo;s changing, just learning how to normalize these minority characters instead of making the character revolve around being a minority. And I think that&rsquo;s the next step.&nbsp; 
LO: Taking on that role is a big breakthrough for a lot of people who can finally see a woman wearing a hijab and realize, "Oh, it's not this scary thing." Not that it ever should have been.
MR: No, yeah, and we've been having a lot of fun with it recently with the different wraps and just showing that your identity is yours to shape. No one else can tell you who you are. I've been working with the hair and makeup team to find ways to portray a character who is religious, but also, not overly traditional. You can be quite traditional and modern at the same time. Yeah, that's been really fun. And just like the fashion of it all is great. The fashion industry loves headscarves, apparently!

LO: What do you think of that? The rise of balaclavas as this "new fashion trend," or covering your hair as a fashion trend?&nbsp;
MR: Again, I think people should be able to express themselves however they want. If you're wearing a balaclava but you're also saying, "Muslim women have no freedom," then maybe I might have an issue with that. But if you're saying let women choose what they want to do, you know? Like France is the hub of fashion, and they're wearing headscarves like every day, but they won't allow girls to wear hijabs in school. That's something that doesn't really make sense to me. 
LO: On the subject of these different hijab styles, and the distinct style on Pam &amp; Tommy, what's your favourite thing that you've ever worn on camera?
MR: It's probably from 'Still Star-Crossed', that ABC Family show that I did, that we shot in Spain. It was a medieval show, so I was wearing these custom-made gowns every day. I was a Disney princess. It was amazing. Those were definitely my favourite. One of them was fully made out of metal, so it was heavier. But it was so epic.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
LO: Who are some of your favourite designers right now?
MR: Sami Miro, her clothes that she just started making, I bought a pair of pants from her, I'm obsessed. Love you, Sami. Also, <a href="https://hushidarmortezaie.com/">Hushidar Mortezaie</a>, he's an Iranian visual, interdisciplinary artist, fashion designer, graphic designer, and stylist who I hope to work with very soon. I love <a href="https://maryamnassirzadeh.com/">Maryan Nassir Zadeh</a>, she's another Iranian designer that I hope I get to work with and <a href="https://maimounstore.com/">Maimoun New York</a>. Yeah, they've been in contact with me as well, but hopefully, we get to do a shoot soon.&nbsp;

LO: So what&rsquo;s your next project?
MR: So the next thing I&rsquo;ll be in as an actor is this Netflix show called 'From Scratch' by Hello Sunshine, which is Reese Witherspoon&rsquo;s production company. I love love love her projects. I play an Iranian-American successful artist. The art that my character creates is beautiful, and it deals with sort of socio-political subject matters. But the character&rsquo;s fun. She&rsquo;s sassy and bitchy, and thinks very highly of herself. Again, I just want to play characters who aren&rsquo;t like, "Yeah, sure! Whatever you want!" 
LO: Is there any other role that you still want to play? That you&rsquo;re still craving to see?&nbsp;
MR: Yes, absolutely. I would love to play like a femme fatale for sure. An unsuspecting woman who, in the end, it&rsquo;s like... The lamb turns into the lion kind of a story arc that would also be great, like anything gritty. I&rsquo;ve always said my dream is to do sci-fi action movies like in my future, hopefully, and do cool, gritty indies. We&rsquo;ll see how that goes. But yeah, and I feel like every girl kind of wants to play a prostitute at some point... Or like a stripper, like every girl kind of wants to play a stripper!

'Pam & Tommy' Star Medalion Rahimi on Hijabi Representation and Seth Rogen's Ceramics

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