Every once in a while someone comes along who is a veritable bundle of unbridled energy with an infectious smile. One such actress is Vida Ghaffari, who we interviewed at the Marc Graue Studio on May 11. At around 2:15 I sent off an urgent email to her manager Joe Williamson asking, “Where is she?”, to which he responded to in five seconds flat. “Isn’t it at 3:30?”, to which I quickly responded with a loud, “No. The studio changed the time on us. We thought that we had a studio room assigned to us at 3:30. They changed it to an hour earlier at 2:30. Tell her to hurry.” And hurry she did because she arrived within minutes. Maybe she lives around the corner or maybe it was her abundance of energy that transported her instantaneously into the Studio.
Whenever we have a first time guest on the show we ask them to show up at least fifteen minutes before air time. This is to give us some leeway if things don’t go according to plan and more importantly to inform the guest what they will be in for and to find out if there any questions they don’t want us to ask. Since we didn’t have the opportunity for a friendly chat beforehand, my ‘wingman’ and producer, Malcolm Burman, and I jumped right into the interview and followed with the “Q and A”, before she could catch her breath and had a chance to sit down.
A little bit about Vida. This is someone who wears not nor two and not three but six hats, known as an Actress, Producer, Voice Over Artist and Fashion Blogger. Vida played one of the main characters in, “Strangers In a Book”, which she also produced. Before that she was in, “Seeking Valentina”, and prior to that, “Cross My Heart”. At this moment her films are being screened at the various festivals. We strongly urge you to check out these films as soon as they are available and see for yourself the talent that Vida has. Where did she come from? She hails from our capital, the District of Columbia and is here in LA on a temporary visa because she only speaks Farsi. Just kidding. She’s in the ‘biz’ and has an IMDb to prove it.
When Vida was young girl all she ever thought about was a career in the film industry, whether it was in front of the camera or in the back of the camera. Being an Iranian by birth, her parents, being very proper, were a bit skeptical and concerned that she chose this form of occupation but she was determined to make it happen. Her parents did not try to stop her but they did warn her to stay away from all of those Hollywood degenerates. I’m still kidding around.
Vida’s TV resume is not only extensive and growing as well, having been on Mind of Mencia on Comedy Central, Jimmy Kimmel and The Mindy Project. She also completed her first animation voiceover with Lisa Kudrow, Fred Willard and Janeane Garofalo. I checked Vida out on the internet as I do with all of our guests and guess what? She and her background are totally all over the place with all kinds of accolades and accomplishments which include her impressive and growing IMDb. She also has about a half dozen movie projects set not only for this year but into 2017 as well. And here’s something that we never knew nor expected. Vida is a multi-award winning journalist and has been quoted as an expert on “Oscar Night Fashions” by non other than US News And World Report. How about that?
One of the questions that we asked her was, “As a person of Iranian descent, do you now or did you ever own any weapons of mass destruction, including those of a nuclear variety?” She didn’t think that was very funny. And so our next question was, “Considering all of the many talents that you possess, what do you think you want to be when you grow up.?” Her answer was, “Yes”. That told us that she definitely has a sense a sense of humor. Another question, the answer to which, has been bugging me for quite a while. “What is the difference between a Persian and an Iranian, with the possible exception that many Persians happen to be Jewish?” Her answer to that question is that there is no difference. It appears that those Iranians who refer to themselves as Persians, do so to impress upon others that they are descended from the Persians of antiquity long before Iran became a country.
All kidding aside and we do kid a lot. Vida was lively, funny, could easily hold her own and was able to partake in the rhetoric between Malcolm and myself. We certainly look forward to seeing a lot more of Vida Ghaffari on the screen, both small and large as well being our guest from time to time on, “The View From Over Here”, in the coming years.
Listen to our interview or watch the video on Malcolm Digital Radio and View From Over Here.