We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Golbanoo Setayesh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Golbanoo, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I’m a first generation citizen. Both my parents are Iranian immigrants. Growing up, it was clear that I had a love of performing from a young age, and this love was supported from the get go. I was put in dance classes at age three. I started voice lessons at eight. At ten, I joined my first summer camp at the local community theater. I was even a featured extra in a film at age thirteen. My parents were involved in all of this, balancing well on the fine line between supportive and stage parents. However, the support came for what was understood to be a hobby. At most, something I could pursue on the side of a more traditional, “sustainable” career. At age sixteen, I sat my parents down and told them I wanted to be an actor. That I wanted to study this craft and be on stage for the rest of my life, and I’d do whatever it took to get there. I was prepared for the worst. As supportive as they’d been, the fact remains they are Middle Eastern immigrants who have both reached high levels of education in STEM based fields (my father, a Doctor of Physical Therapy; my mother, a Doctor of Education Technology teaching Math at a university). I got the words out, and after a few moments of silence they said, okay. That they wanted me to be happy. They knew this was my passion, and in that moment I understood that my parents’ support is unconditional. They have proved that to me time and again. They took me to every college audition I had, made it to every opening night with a bouquet of flowers, took the time to understand why every accomplishment I had in this field was an accomplishment and shared that with their families in Iran with so much pride and joy. To this day my mom insists on helping me with lines, even though she’s states away. My dad on his daily drives alternates between listening to recordings of my voice singing his favorite songs and cast albums of shows I’m involved in. I get my opening night flowers even when they can’t make it on opening night. At any point when I’ve felt discouraged or not good enough for this field, they have been right by me to gently but firmly remind me that I am enough, I have proven to myself what they have always known, that I am a good performer; and I am reminded of the wind beneath my wings that has never let me down.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an actor. I have been working for the past year or so in the Atlanta theatre scene and have just begun making a bit of a name for myself. What I think is most important to get to know my core, is what I strive for most, which is to be the representation I did not have. It’s very rare to see NAMESA (North African, Middle Eastern, South Asian) actors in any form of media, let alone theatre. I want to be someone future actors can look to as inspiration, just for being a Middle Eastern actor doing mainstream American theatre. In February of this past year I was in BEEHIVE: THE 60’S MUSICAL with the Atlanta Lyric Theatre. It is a revue of women’s music in America in the 1960’s, told from the perspective of six young American women growing up in the decade. I had an audience member reach out to me on Instagram after the show to let me know that she was Iranian, like me, and had felt very impacted by seeing an Iranian actor on stage singing some of the most well known songs in modern American history. This interaction made me so emotional. She said she had never seen someone like her on stage. That statement in itself took my breath away as I realized I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I get asked fairly often, why theatre? The answer to me is simple. Theatre is one of the few arts where the performers are breathing the same air as their audience. We gather in a room to tell a story and receive a story, and that experience creates a feeling of human empathy that I don’t think can be replicated elsewhere. I love the “throw it all out there” feel of theatre; there are no second takes. You live in the now. Mistakes become part of a singular unique experience that will never happen again. That’s the best part of it all.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started college like most other young theatre performers, thinking I would graduate in four years with a BFA in Musical Theatre, then head off to New York and Broadway. I was ready to take over the world. Within the first year of college, I was hit hard with depression and anxiety. After a semester I couldn’t get out of bed to go to class. I couldn’t clean my room. Every part of a normal daily routine felt like a huge challenge that I just wasn’t up for. I wasn’t getting cast in shows because of my grades and I just felt so ashamed. I felt like I gave up on myself and allowed others to give up on me. When the pandemic hit, I was forced to face these issues along with some past trauma, and while I made sincere progress in my mental health journey, it wasn’t enough. School began again, and by the end of my junior year, I realized the college environment was killing me and I had to leave. I immediately began working on the gaps I had in my mental health. Within a few months, I’d been cast in my first professional production, in a leading role, and something switched in me. I continue to work on my mental health but I’ve now begun a true career in the field that I love. My path was twisted and certainly untraditional, but I got to a place where I feel truly fulfilled and happy, and I think my 18 year old self would be so proud.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @golbanoosetayesh
• Facebook: Golbanoo Setayesh

Image Credits
Tom Ortega, Kevin Harry, Jillian Melko, Atlanta Lyric Theatre, Jennie T. Anderson Theatre