Because of the lack of Persian representation on TV, Anthony often auditioned for Latinx roles, including Victor.

While he didn’t get that role (which he now says was “definitely a good thing”), the producers called him up out of the blue a year later to audition for the role of Cyrus (which is actually Anthony’s middle name), an Iranian-American. The character’s name was later changed to Rahim to include more Muslim cultures.

The role of Rahim seems to be a sort of a chicken-and-egg situation — we’re not sure if the producers wrote the role for Anthony, or just knew he’d fit perfectly.

“I really was just so ready to play this character because I felt for the first time that I was playing a character that was culturally accurate to my background,” Anthony explained. “For so long I was cast as Latinx because I look the part or ambiguous or white-passing and always given a very generic name.”