Breaking Barriers: Amber Afzali's Journey to "Rule Breakers"

Amber is going to be playing one of the lead roles in the Angel Studio indie film that's highly anticipated , called Rule Breakers . This film is based on Afghanistan's first all-girls robotic team , and Amber is going to be playing one of the team members . She is also a passionate activist and she is really passionate about this film .

So we're going to be talking to her about the film and everything that she's up to as far as activism . So , amber , thank you so much for joining me today .

Really until recently I went to University of Pennsylvania , studied political science and psychology and right , I'm just always excited to find new projects that really connect with me on an emotional level , on a cultural level or just something that I think is very entertaining .

So I'm very excited to be here and I'm very excited to talk a little bit more about the film and about my experience .

My dad had a couple stops before making his way to California and I think when they had us , something that they really wanted to make sure that we had was an appreciation for our culture and understanding of the language and just being able to balance the Afghan identity with being an American as well , and that kind of brought me , you know , with all of the

things that were happening with Afghanistan as I was growing up . It kind of led me to a path of being really interested in the Afghan community and Afghanistan itself and all of the turmoil in the region , but all of the incredible things that also come out of that region .

And so it led me to a place where I was very passionate about learning more about my culture . And so I decided to study political science with a concentration in international relations in order to focus on Afghanistan and on the South Asian Middle Eastern region .

And I was studying that in university and my parents have always been supportive of anything that I've set my mind to . They've always been very proud that I'm just being myself and stepping into my true nature , and so when the opportunity arose for me to continue or to start acting again , they were absolutely supportive .

They didn't know in what capacity I would be doing this , if I would be leaving behind my educational background or if I would be juggling both , and definitely was the latter .

I decided to juggle both and they were very proud when I my first project was a project that related so strongly to my passion for Afghanistan , for the culture , for the people and for just highlighting what Afghan girls can do .

So that was a very exciting project , I think , for all of us , in that I could connect all of my interests into one beautiful piece of art , and they've been very supportive of my acting career from the get-go , but especially since that project .

You know , I never considered myself to be an activist when I was growing up and when I was speaking up on Afghanistan or when I was sharing my experiences being an Afghan American girl or when I was just trying to learn more about Afghanistan and a byproduct of that was my classmates ended up learning more because I would ask those sorts of questions .

So at the time I honestly thought it was just something of my curiosity that kind of led me to this place , and I think the more that I've learned about sort of the stereotypes of that region , the injustices from that region , so many different things , I just became more and more passionate and it fueled my activism .

It fueled how much I wanted to talk about the situation , how much I wanted to do for my community , and so since then I've worked with refugee communities that are predominantly Afghan . I've been a part of the Afghan American community organization in the ways that I could be .

I have studied Afghanistan in my classes so that I could raise awareness about it and I've written several papers on the refugee experience and those things , I think , help me get a better from the academic side , help me get a better understanding of what theories there are , what opportunities there are and where the gaps are for my community , and so my goal now

is to just be able to speak up on where those gaps are and hopefully be able to fill them in whatever way that I community . And so my goal now is to just be able to speak up on where those gaps are and hopefully be able to fill them in whatever way that I can .

And the best way , I think , for youth who might have limited resources or limited funds , to be able to be an activist for the community is just to raise awareness and speak up and be a part of their community .

And so that's really what I've been trying to do these days and I am very grateful that I've been able to do that now with this project specifically and that's been very exciting that Rule Breakers has been kind of amplifying the Afghan American experience , you know , with the actors , as well as the Afghan experience with the incredible story of the Afghan dreamers .

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She is very shy and her story arc is of her finding her voice by relying on the women that are around her , by relying on the beautiful support system that she's found and built within the Afghan Dreamers team , so she's able to find her voice and it's a beautiful journey that highlights how important it is for young girls to find their voice , especially when

they're from regions that may not encourage them to use their voice . And I loved playing Essen . How I got the role of Essen was through an audition that my manager had sent over . I actually auditioned for Tara and Essen and ended up getting callbacks for Essen , which I was very excited for .

And it was just a process of , you know , trying to relate to the character , trying to connect on that cultural level and also trying to connect .

From my personal experience as being shy , like I said , my parents threw me in acting classes when I was young to break me out of my shell , and so this was something that I kind of drew that experience from of how young girls kind of are able to break out of their shells , and so I drew on my experience to play SN , ultimately did a callback while I was

on my spring break trip in Puerto Vallarta and finally we had some chemistry reads and after that , in April , my manager at the time called me and said that how would I like to go traveling around the world to film this movie ? And I think I screamed and I was like you're lying , there's no way .

This was my first audition , actually , so I just didn't expect it to happen that quickly . And when it happened , I was over the moon .

And I was especially over the moon because I was so grateful that there was a project on Afghanistan that wasn't centered on war , that wasn't centered on the terrible things that have happened there , or that wasn't centered on , you know , military and men from other regions coming into the country and that dynamic . It was about the women .

It was giving women a voice . It was giving women , you know , not only did it give them screen time , but it gave them screen time in such a beautiful and authentic way that highlighted the Afghan experience as an Afghan dreamer that highlighted how beautiful the culture can be as well , and it was in a very biased , bleak view of Afghanistan .

So I was very grateful and I ran to my dorm apartment at the time and called my parents on a FaceTime call so I could record their reactions when I told them and they were so thrilled . They were thrilled .

They're all such beautiful women beautiful , beautiful , incredibly talented women who are so supportive , and they are the definition of , you know , finding a community of women from similar , shared backgrounds that just support and uplift you . And a lot of people are talking about the chemistry through on screen and whether that was real or not . That was 100% real .

We were all very close and we all got along very well . And , yeah , I always say that I was spoiled for my first time on set because , honestly , I loved working with them . I absolutely loved working with them and to this day , I'm still in contact with some of them and I'm very grateful to have gotten the chance to work alongside them .

And we were all coming from different experience levels too , but for the most part , this was our first feature film project that not for all of us and so this was a very special moment , kind of felt like we were the Afghan Dreamers team having our own journey .

Our own experiences , for the first time , are shared Traveling abroad for this project that we were so passionate about . Also , coach , coach Ali , played by Nourine Ghulam Ghaz . He is incredible . He is such a talented and authentic and deep , sincere actor . So very grateful I got to work with him .

We both spoke the same dialect of Dari or Farsi , and so we were able to connect very , very quickly and , have you know , that language really helps bring communities together , I think , and so we were able to bond over that shared language and I'm very appreciative of that . And he's just an incredible actor with so much wisdom .

He really was like our big brother on set and so that was beautiful to work with him as well . Nicole Boucheri with him as well . Nicole Boucheri , strong grounded , she's incredible , you know . She really brings so much life to Roya , brings that really strong qualities that Roya has , and I'm so grateful that I got to see her work .

You know she's done some amazing projects . We were very fortunate to have her on this project with us and kind of getting to learn from her by watching her , and it was beautiful .

And then Ali Fazal , also another wonderful actor that we got to work with , and I love Bollywood movies so I had actually seen him before , so it was very cool to be able to have him on set with us , although the time was brief , but he was an incredible actor to work with and just always doing improv jokes , so that was funny .

And lastly , phoebe Waller-Bridge she gosh , she's incredible to work with .

It was very brief that we were able to work with her , but I think backstage I just spoke about video games with her the whole time , especially Tomb Raider , because that's one of my favorites , and I think two weeks later it came out that she was writing the Tomb Raider series for Amazon , so I was blown away .

But she's so genuine , she brings such a warmth to set . I'm glad I had to . I got a scene with her and I got a chance to act with her and just be in her presence and understand her acting process and how laid back she is and how strong you know she is as a person , as an advocate for women , and she's just incredible to work with .

And all the other actors were incredible . We had some great talent from the Budapest and Marrakesh region , specifically the cafe owner , nasser Memarzia . He's a fantastic actor to work with .

There's so many great people on set and I think by being around such talented , experienced people I was able to get a crash course , in acting on my first time on set , and I'm very appreciative of that . It was an opportunity of a lifetime for a new actor .

And if you are an international listener , just stay tuned , because there are some international releases happening everywhere you know , at different points in time .

So just stay tuned , follow at Rule Breakers Film and follow me at Amber of Zali , and I will definitely be sure to share when we have other releases , but for now , I think Angel Guild streaming platform is a reliable one , but for now , I think Angel Guild streaming platform is a reliable one .

Yes , follow my Instagram and that's where you'll once I can share , you'll be able to check out exactly what it is that I am up to , but I'm always excited to play dynamic and challenging characters and characters that really make people think or open up a dialogue , like Essendon .

So hopefully audiences will stay connected with my journey and we'll see what's next .

through anyone who's with you that's watching it , so that you have the courage and the determination to pursue whatever dream it is you have , and especially if , in STEM , we need more women in STEM .

Go to wwwcurveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast Listeners . Thank you for listening and supporting the show . Amber , thank you for all that you're doing and thank you for joining me .