Director Babak Jalali of the film Fremont cast a real Afghan refugee, Anaita Wali Zada, as the lead role in the Afghan refugee story. Wali Zada is a first-time actor. Jalali took a big risk casting her but stayed committed to authenticity.

Fremont follows a young woman, Donya, who tirelessly works at a fortune cookie factory after accumulating PTSD from working with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Fremont is a real place where many Afghan refugees live, and finding someone like Wali Zada was not an easy task.

Jalali states, “The pool of professional Afghan actresses is tiny in North America and Europe… We did an open casting call through social media and Afghan community centers in the States and Canada. People reached out from Arizona, Florida, and California. Most were second-generation Afghan women in their 20s.”

The lack of experience would not have been an issue, and likely many women could have done the job well. However, Wali Zada sent an email saying she has never acted and is living in Maryland after an emergency evacuation flight to escape the Taliban. Jalali set up a Zoom call and immediately knew she was perfect for the role, even without reading or script. At that point, she was not fluent in English but understood a lot.

Wali Zada’s background of having to leave her mother and siblings in Afghanistan allowed her to connect to the story and her character. Her character specifically was a translator for the U.S. military. However, she and her character did differ from one another. Donya is considered unafraid of confrontation, tough, and resourceful. However, Wali Zada had a harder time shouting at a male character in a scene because that was unnatural to her. Wali Zada eventually met that requirement. Filming took place over 20 days, so Wali Zada had to be fine with doing strong takes on the first or second try.