Liraz Charhi On Bridging Divides, Being a Voice for Women, Her New Album and Apple Series 'Tehran'
Iranian actress and singer Liraz Charhi, who you can catch in the new Apple TV+ series Tehran, talks about how she came into her own, breaking down barriers, being an inspiring voice for women and how art can connect us all. Plus, she talks about her sophomore music album, Zan, which is being released on November 13th.
Liraz was photographed by Rotem Lebel in the Jaffa neighborhood of Tel Aviv for ROSE & IVY.
She was styled by Corine Swed; hair and makeup by Gili Algabi. Interview by Alison Engstrom.
On Her Background and Coming INto Her Own
I was born in Israel to two Iranian parents who left Iran when they were teenagers. My dad left in 1964 and my mom left in 1970. I grew up in a home in the center of Israel, but I had two characters, one of them was Iranian and the other was Israeli. I liked it as a child but when I grew up I realized there was something that I didn’t really understand about my roots. I wanted to explore them in any way that I could, but it was impossible because in my home my parents struggled to be Israeli and to be something they didn’t even know how to be. They left behind their roots but we were very Iranian inside our house from the culture and education. I felt like this was one end and I had another which was being Israeli, so each time I went from my home to school, I felt I was actually moving countries. It was like being foreign in the country I was born, so I got very confused as a teenager and growing up. My parents spoke to me in Farsi and I answered in Hebrew because I didn’t want the neighbors or my friends to not understand. I was against my roots but I also wanted to embrace them and to know where I came from. I knew from the age of four or five that I wanted to be in the arts. I wanted to sing, dance, act and write. I started very soon to do all of those things and it was very beautiful.
On Using the Arts as A WaY to Express and Explore Herself
When I was in school and in theater lessons, I wrote about my experiences and the story of the women in my family—I danced about it; I sang about it and my degree was about it. I still felt there was a hole in my heart that I was trying to fill and I couldn’t find a way to describe how I felt. On one hand, my parents told me so many beautiful stories about Iranian culture, but then I read the news, I saw things about extreme Islam, extreme regimes and a revolution where women could not raise their voices, their heads and they cannot even sing for the past forty-two years, so for me as a singer that was terrible. I tried to understand which side am I, the Iranian-side or the Israeli-side because the countries are enemies, which I don’t agree with because I see them and I love them. I see Iranian movies and I am melting because they are so artistic and beautiful, so I neglected my feelings for a while.
After I finished the army, where I was a singer in the army band, I went to acting school for three years and when I graduated, I started to work. I released my first album in Hebrew; I started to do films, theater and television. Then I took a trip to Los Angeles with one of my movies and Los Angeles actually flipped me. I found a million, not as an expression, Iranian people there—we all call it ‘Tehrangeles’. I found out I had so many cousins and family out there. I started to explore Tehrangeles and visited the beautiful neighborhoods where they lived and ate Iranian food—the stories of my parents were becoming real. I could eat the same lollipop they ate when they were kids. I could feel the popularity of so many Iranian people. I felt like Los Angeles was my home. I dropped most of my auditions, I called my manager and told her listen, something just happened to me and I’m not able to go and be challenged with any auditions and be any good because I landed in this beautiful country—it was Iran for me—so excuse me for a while. She was like, of course, Liraz, take a couple of days for sure. I remember at one point I literally felt I was standing at a crossroads. I felt almost like a baby was falling into my arms, I wanted to raise her and sing her in Farsi. I didn’t know where that came from because I had my career and everything was going well. How can I just drop everything to sing and write in Farsi? I told my team and my friends what I was going to do and they looked at me like I was crazy. They said, it’s niche, and I said, yes thank you! I want to be in the niche because I am in the mainstream and it’s boring! I didn’t want to sing the words of someone else, I wanted to write my own words. It took me a while to find the right musicians who could put the right layers on my first Iranian album.
How Apple’s Espionage Thriller ‘Tehran’ Came to Her
The role arrived because of my Iranian heritage. Daniel Syrkin, the director, called me for an appointment. He said, I want to hear about your music career and your connection to the Iranian people. I had heard that this TV series was going to be in the hands of casting directors but there was no role for me. I was like, what’s mine is mine and what’s not is not. He wanted to meet me so he could understand why in the hell I was doing what I was doing with my Iranian music in Israel. He said, you know we have role but it’s not your age, but later he ended up calling me and changing the age because he wanted me to do this role. I play Yael Kadosh, who is a Mossad agent. The reason I was talking about my heritage and my music is because I am very familiar with her character—it’s the same lady with a different robe. I felt like I have the same fingerprint as her. She is very complex and very layered. She has to prove herself in a very masculine environment. She sends Tamar Rabinyan, a young agent for her first mission to Tehran who she thinks will perform very well. Things get very complicated and she has to figure out how to solve this complex situation Tamar got in. It reminds Yael of the same stories she has been through. It’s about finding her own balance with her emotions about Iran, which side is she the Israeli or Iranian side, the same questions I have been asking myself all of my life. It was so natural for me to get inside the role but it was scary the first couple of days. I was on set in Athens and it looked like Iran, which I cannot visit. There were hundreds of actors from all over the world who spoke Farsi, each left Iran at some point. They all had the same stories of feeling foreign in their own country and were starting to build their life outside of Iran. Yael is very determined and strong but on the other hand, she is very fragile and doesn’t know how to hold her emotions.
On her second album ‘Zan’ and the parallels between the series and album
After I released my first Iranian album, I realized I had a real connection and a lot of support from Iran, especially from women who were very surprised to have found a singer who lives in Israel, is Iranian, sings in Farsi and is free to do whatever she wanted. They would ask me, why aren’t you covering your head and how can you sing freely and dance? They said, this is our dream and please continue doing what you are doing. I would never have imagined I would get so much support, I actually was afraid. I thought they would laugh at my accent. I didn’t work hard to get a real Iranian accent because that was not me, that was not my story. I wanted to give the audience the layers that I have. I was so supported—I would get videos of women dancing in underground parties to my music, they were taking off their scarves and underneath they were wearing Versace and Dolce & Gabbana. They were all so stylish. They actually gave me the strength to believe that my biggest dream could be accomplished of writing an album with Iranian artists. It was one hell of an experience with a lot of happiness, anxiety and sleepless nights. I felt like I was in the Mossad, you know.
On the Importance of Sharing a Story of Unity Between Israel and Iran
The title that we have is not real. In real life, we love each other, support each other and visit each other but we are not able. I know that on my tours in Europe, I can meet my Iranian fellows. It’s so real for me to work with them. I know it is very naive, but as I produced and recorded my first album, I wanted to close this circle of the women in my family who were oppressed and for myself, where my femininity was very delayed. I have seen the women in my family break down walls—each one did it on her own time and ability, but they did do it, including my mother, sister, my grandmothers, who got engaged at the age of 11 and 13. I grew up on their knees telling me how one of them wished to be a singer and the other said she wanted to know how it was to fall in love. I feel like I am a pipe for my two daughters who I am raising. I can give them a mother who is closing a circle and who is free to do my art and whatever else I want. On the other hand, I need to tell them stories; it’s not about me. As I told you, this baby who wanted me to sing in Farsi, she asked me to do something that was a mission, but it’s not really me. I sing because women have been muted for the past forty-two years. I sing to them and with them. Being naive in recording with Iranian artists, I thought that this was my opportunity to peel these layers of obeying, being nice, coquettish and to build a thick layer of skin saying that I am looking for my freedom and I am asking for each woman to have her own revolution. I wrote many songs about it in my upcoming album.
On Her Music and creative inspiration
For my music, I am inspired by women who had careers in Iran and they didn’t stop them when the country became very religious. They just moved out and continued with their careers. They are very inspiring to me.
On the Highlight of Her Career So Far
I think this is my time. I think with the series Tehran, it’s so emotional and made so many people think about both countries and cultures mixing. It’s not about the political story, it’s a story of the people behind these two complex countries. It comes together with this album; I remember my manager in LA telling me, I have auditions for this or that, but I said I was going on tour. She said, you know Liraz, I believe that at some point, it’s all going to connect and be one heart. I am very happy even though a year of tours and roles have been canceled, it’s tough, but I am so happy that it is all coming together, I am very happy.
