Spider-Man’s Zoha Rahman on being a south Asian actor in Hollywood: What we have seen so far is very stereotypical

Zoha Rahman is known for playing the first ever hijabi character in a Marvel movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and she says the scope for south Asian actors are still limited in the West.

The Pakistani- origin British actor, who rose to fame after playing Peter Parker’s Muslim friend, says the problem exists because there is a lack of understanding as white people are telling the storied from their perspective.

“There is no lack of talent among south Asian actors. But unfortunately what we have seen so far is very stereotypical. We have taxi drivers, the geeky guy and unfortunately the terrorist and it is very limiting,” she says, while further elaborating, “ Firstly, you don’t see more than one South Asian on screen because it either has to be a South Asian or black or east Asian. We can’t more than one person of colour in a film. There is a checklist, they think that if there is one of any then diversity is done. That is the first challenge often.”

The other challenge Rahman notes is that even if there is such a character in the story, they don’t have a well fleshed out role.

“The stereotypical roles don’t offer anything to the story. If that character is removed from the story then nothing changes. I have got audition calls (for such roles) and it s frustrating,” she adds.

But the actor is not losing hope as she says she is seeing changes happening.

“There is a very slow and gradual change coming. I personally believe it is because we have more people of colour behind the camera now. So people are actually writing stories that are representative of our experiences and not white citizens in the world,” she tells us.

Not just Hollywood, Rahman has been also working in Bollywood, she recently starred in ’83 and is shooting for the upcoming Anshuman Jha’s directorial debut Lord Curzon Ki Haveli alongside Arjun Mathur, Rasika Dugal & Paresh Pahuja.

“Bollywood has a huge impact on all south Asians. You grow up watching those films and dancing to those songs at weddings. During Covid, I watched a lot of Bollywood films and it gave me a new perspective into what goes into the art of creating a Bollywood film. As for Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, with Anshuman spearheading the direction, I am really enjoying myself as a performer,” she ends.