The last time that I saw Parisa, she told me that she was quitting acting. I didn’t say it at the time, but I thought, “What a bummer.” She is quite a good actress. Despite her talents, however, she is also a member of a unique ideology called the Baha’i Faith. Now, I’m not convinced there is a God. I have a particularly difficult time with religion, especially from a historical perspective. However, I do find that the Baha’i Faith offers up a great tool box for life.

And we need people like Parisa in the world – who value all of humanity as equal. Who see people as created noble, first and foremost – above race, sex, and even economics. I found a quote on one of Parisa’s social media pages that sums it up pretty well. Below is a shortened version for the sake of this blog.

“The breeding ground of all these tragedies is prejudice: prejudice of race and nation, of religion, of political opinion; and the root cause of prejudice is blind imitation of the past. So long as the aping of the past persisteth will humanity be continually exposed to direst peril.”

Prejudices certainly weave their way through cultures, religions. and races. It feels like the more time goes by, the more segregated everything becomes. Like we’re purposely looking for differences to exploit. So it’s refreshing to me when someone in the Hollywood system, in particular Parisa, comes along. Maybe it’s her own mixed racial background. Maybe it’s her Baha’i perspective. Maybe she simply has goodness inside of her. I can’t say for sure. Whatever it is, I really enjoyed this interview.

One of my favorites so far!

Go check her out on Midnight, Texas, or Luke Cage where she plays a pretty doctor.

Without further, ado…

Q: What is your favorite sandwich and who makes the best one?

P.F-H. Subway BM.T. I wish I could have one right now. Come on subway, go glutton free.

Q: What is your favorite meal your mom makes?

P.F-H.  Oh … I think I’m going to cry because I miss my mom. Don’t worry she’s alive. Oh, this is terrible. My mom made the same things all the time. They weren’t horrible, just the same. But there’s one I liked more than the others. Cush’a’mush. I don’t know to really spell it or where it came from, but it was noodles with pasta sauce and ground turkey mixed all together. It was really good. All of our meals had ground turkey. It got old after awhile, but I would eat some of that right now! Ground turkey was weird at the time. It was her effort to be healthy.

Q: How did you meet your best friend?

P.F-H. Oh … Oh. God. That is a politically dicey question because I have more than one best friend. I’ll say this… There is almost a platonic romantic story behind each one. You meet someone and don’t realize that they are going to be an epic force in your life.

Q: When or how did you find what you wanted to do?

P.F-H. I found out when I was doing it one day after I was modeling for a long time. I liked it, but didn’t have a love for it. Maybe a like-dislike for it. I was on my way between castings one day and I needed to use the bathroom and accidentally walked onto a film set. A guy asked if I was the girl the agent sent over. And I said no. He offered me a scene when I came out of the bathroom. Someone made a mistake and didn’t hire anyone for them that day. He asked if I was part of the Screen Actors Guild. I think I was because I had done a commercial. He was like, “Great!” I did the little scene and in my head I didn’t think of it anything more than modeling. I had done music videos before. And I had the feeling of pretending and being in a moment when the lights went on. I love it. Now, I used to pretend in my room all the time when I was a kid. I can pretend to be someone else and like what I hear. That was the moment.

Q: How did you pursue it?

P.F-H. Well, um … as soon as that happened, I guess. I was living in Jamaica and commuting to N.Y. Soon after that, I went back to Jamaica. This was before the recession when clients would fly you all over the place. I found an acting and teaching one-on-one tutor. I really wanted to learn how to act. Then eventually I moved to L.A. and started studying there.

Q: Did you have a mentor/mentors in pursuing it?

P.F-H. I have so many. I look for them everywhere. I drink up any actor that I can find online or TV. I look up to anyone that has experience. Not a single one that shepherded me along the path. Warner Laughlin was an amazing guide for me, though. She is still an active teacher in L.A. She taught me in a loving and healthy way. I studied at her studio. She was the most impactful, but so was Adam Wilheight.

Q: What do you dream of doing or are you doing it?

P.F-H. Yes and no. I would love to develop more of my writing. And develop other people’s writing too. I found on the way that I have a knack for production, but it’s so all-consuming. There is a book that I’m dying to see turn into a series. I would like to see how I can be a part of that and create more. Where will I create more? I’m open to that looking different. I write poetry, songs, like pop-country. I’m a huge country fan.

Q: What would your 15 year old self say to you now?

P.F-H. Come here and let me give you a hug. It’s going to be ok.

Q: If life were a person what would you say?

P.F-H. You rock! Boy you’re complicated, but you’re awesome and I love you.

Q:  If you were in charge of the world and you have no restrictions, real or imagined, what is the one thing you would give it?

P.F-H. Very practically, I would make the world value spiritual education as much as it values reading and writing. I would never take all the challenges away, however, because they help us grow. Of course, you teach a baby how to spell as soon as possible, but you must also teach them about kindness. This should be in the hands of society, not just parents. Why are these things not part of basic education? I find that as an adult I am starved for real people.

Q: Has morality disintegrated to the point that we now need Yelp for people?

P.F-H. Hahaha! … You know, there is some kind of app for where you can rate people. But has morality disintegrated to the point where that is very enticing? The idea creeps me out. Just like Yelp, it depends on when you go to the restaurant. For one person, it was amazing and to another, horrible, based on someone’s whims.

Q: How is society getting things right?

P.F-H. I think that the Internet has become a forum for negativity, but it’s also a forum for positivity. On Twitter, for example, a person might be bullied for their sexuality, but then there is also an overwhelming support, too.

Q:  What do people need in order to see each other as equals?

P.F-H. When you look at yourself and see that you are not your nationality or personality or where you grew up. You are not all the external things that you walk around with in the world. Inside you is a heart, a mind, and a soul that hurts or loves and needs. Once you realize that’s who you are, then you can see that most of us are that way too.

Q: Do we still need religion?

P.F-H. I do. But I think we need a really new way of using that tool.

Q: Do you have hope for the future?

P.F-H. Absolutely! I’m psyched for it.

Hot topic of the week: This is an open discussion. Could be Gay marriage or Confederate flag, Donald Trump, for example?

P.F-H. The thing that really comes out for me is that it’s of utmost importance to treat others the same way that you would want to be treated. Screaming “You’re an idiot!” has never worked. No one has ever thanked someone else for insulting them as a way to improve their lives. Forget politically correct and try being kind. That would really change a lot.

Q: What are three things that work for you: For example, I can’t find a good razor. Because of a near unbridled need for massive profits I find that many products don’t live up their advertising. What works for you?

P.F-H. Here’s my thing. I love buying clothes at thrift stores. So I repurpose things. Vintage things.

More thought-provoking questions:

1:  Do Americans have the right to complain about immigration?

P.F-H. We have the right to say anything we want, because of the 1^st amendment. We have the right to complain, but it’s not the best option. It would be better if we had a compassionate conversation rather than a screaming match. It might not be the right thing to let everyone in or it might, but we won’t know unless we have a calm conversation about it.

2: If our value system is based on scarcity, then what of a human life, now that the population is in the billions?

P.F-H. I think how we act in our immediate circles is multiplied into the way that society runs. The more that we value each other in a very real way, not just based on how we look, the better off we’ll be. Seven billion or even 10 billion people doing that is fine, but if you’re not doing that then that’s a problem. Governments don’t reflect that we need to hold human life valuable. We also have a tendency to see people who don’t look like us as less valuable. So when they are dying on the other side of the world, you’re not paying attention to it. If it was in your yard, then maybe you might. But if we practice truly valuing ourselves, then do that with each other, we might be able to value everyone in the world.

3: Would life be easier if racism were accurate?

P.F-H. Traits that are assigned to people are never exclusive to color.

Junk Drawer:

We have to stop arguing and truly remember that when someone doesn’t see things the way we do, we have to use ways that we know actually work as a reference.