Sepideh Moafi is looking back at the beginning of her acting career.

In a new interview, the 40-year-old actress, who currently stars as Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi in season two of The Pitt, recalled her first agent advising her to change her name in order to get acting roles after she graduated from an MFA program at University of California Irvine in 2013.

Keep reading to find out more…“When I graduated from grad school, my first agent wanted me to change my name and I immediately said, f–k no,” Sepideh told People. “I know actors who have changed their names and there’s no judgment there. And I know a lot of actors, specifically people of color, who have been expected to change their name and haven’t.”

Sepideh noted that the decision for someone to change their name is “complicated,” saying, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people who decide to do it.”

As for her own experience, Sepideh said, “It felt like they needed me to be someone different in order to work or to sell something. I refused. I continued, and I ended up booking my first job and then my second and third, and having a beautiful varied career as a result.”

She went on to acknowledge that it’s a personal choice for an actor change their name, adding, “I hope anyone who makes that choice makes it for themselves and not because they feel like they need to change who they are in order to be more universally palatable.”

If you didn’t see, the latest episode of The Pitt ended on a big cliffhanger.