The word diva is derived from Latin meaning feminine of divus - divine, god.  The term had been used to describe a woman of great talent in opera, and more recently in theatre, cinema and popular music.  And to a great degree has received negative connotation the past 20 years with the word diva (or prima donna) being associated with entertainers not just in theatre, film, and pop music but sports personalities as well, including baseball players like former San Francisco Giant Barry Bonds or the Yankees Alex Rodriguez (aka A-Rod).

However, when you see Sepideh Moafi (pronounced Seh-pea-deh Mo-ah-fee) performing on stage whether its opera, theatre, or just a music concert, you associate the word diva with her in the most positive sense of the term.  And when you meet her face-to-face, you will encounter one of the nicest human beings ever.  It's not just her voice that you'd call angelic, but the woman is in every humanistic level a "Fereshteh", or a Persian angel.

• EARLY LIFE AND ARTISTIC GROWTH
  

Sepideh Moafi was born in Regensburg, a city in southern Germany, Sept. 18, 1985 to Enayat & Soraya Moafi, formerly of Iran.  Before arriving in Germany, the Moafis were heavily involved with Iranian politics before the overthrow of the Shah by the Ayatollah Khomeini regime of the Revolution of 1979.  Their influences on Sepideh have clearly left their mark on her; Sepideh continues to advocate for Iranians worldwide.

A few months shortly after Sepideh was born, the Moafis migrated to the United States and eventually settled down in Mountain View, CA.  Sepideh and her older sister, Setareh, were only involved in traditional Persian dance as far as the performing arts was concerned.  But at 16 years old at the renowned chorale group of Los Altos High School is when she developed a great love for singing.  Her high school choir director, Mark Shaull, recognized her potential and encouraged her to pursue music after only half a year in the program.  It was then that he placed Moafi in the advanced singing groups, including The Main Street Singers and eventually turned her over to the respectable opera singer and teacher Page Swift, who became a friend and mentor for several years.  It was Swift, who inspired Moafi into singing opera.  Sadly Swift passed away on Feb. 29, 2008.

Swift and Shaull guided Moafi in finding the right school for her to pursue her music studies.  Sepideh was awarded a full scholarship to attend The San Francisco Conservatory Of Music (SFCM) from 2003-2007, where she found her current voice teacher and mentor, Jane Randolph.  Moafi has marveled audiences, performing recitals & concerts at Davies Symphony Hall and The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, as well as opera productions including L'Egisto (as Clori); Le Nozze di Figaro, aka The Marriage of Figaro, (as Susanna); and Agrippina (as Agrippina) for the Oakland Metro Opera under the direction of Tom Dean.

Moafi describes herself as "an obsessessive perfectionist."  She is the consummate professional and a perfectionist so much that she has performed the role of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro for three different productions - the Livermore Valley Opera; Mendocino Music Festival; and at SFCM.

Sepideh Moafi explained on performing Susanna three times:

"Since I started performing, I've always been very focused. My work consumes me, it's always on my mind, whether I'm working on recital or a play.  I am constantly dissecting my scripts and/or scores.  Susanna is a role I've repeated in three different productions, and I never once thought to myself, "Oh, I already know this, my work is done."  I've tried to rediscover her every time, and surely enough, she evolved from a girl of 19 (when I first did the role) to a lady of 21 and a woman at 23.  Especially when you work on the material of a composer like Mozart, you know?  Mozart's music is a musician's gold mine, the deeper you dig into the score, the more you'll discover.

So often as actor/singers we allow ourselves to fall into a pattern with our work. Right now, we're nine weeks into our run (performing The Fantasticks at the San Francisco Playhouse) and the danger is to allow the script to collect dust. You've gotta motivate yourself to pick that script up every few days and get back to work.  This is so important in my opinion.  It's like hitting your refresh button.  It is our job, our duty as actors to keep the work alive and fresh for ourselves and our audiences.  Plus, it's always a treat to make new discoveries nine weeks into a run."

• FAVORITE ARTISTS, INFLUENCES, AND ADVANCED TRAINING

The artists that have inspired Moafi to aspire to higher realms in the arts are opera singers, Mirella Freni, Maria Callas, and Plácido Domingo (who's currently the artistic director of the L.A. Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion).  And in film and television, she referred to the works of the legendary Marlon Brando as well as the stars of The Sopranos, James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.

On Domingo Moafi elaborated, "Not only is he an incredible performer, but he just does everything - he's a singer, pianist, conductor, artistic director... He's unstoppable; the man is always working; he's a big inspiration."  And on Brando, she stated, "He's incredible to watch because he's not afraid of anything. He'll do anything. He doesn't watch himself or comment on his characters while he's doing his thing, he just is the character.  I think fear and self-judgment are our biggest blocks.  I love the quote, 'Leap and the net will follow'.  That's the kind of work I'm interested in seeing and doing."

Sepideh Moafi has the rare combination of talents because of her classical training not just in music (with her extensive opera background) but in her theatrical training and even in the minimal dance training she's had with traditional Persian dancing as well as ballet.  Additionally, her movement and flexibility can be attributed to her years of experience and teaching from yoga.

She's taken classes at Seydways Studios and at the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) Summer Training Congress in San Francisco which has led to her landing roles at prestigious Bay Area theatre companies such as the San Jose Repertory Theatre's 2009 production of As You Like It as Audrey and the Palo Alto Players 2009 production of Romeo & Juliet as Juliet.  While in dance, she's had some training in Persian traditional dancing and ballet.

• RARE PERSPECTIVE & HER FUTURE

With her extraordinary talents and experiences, Moafi expresses her feelings on the differences of opera, musical theatre, and dramatic theatre:

"In opera, everything lies in the music - every little nuance, every emotion, every stage direction - it's all there in the score.  As an opera singer, your job is to technically put the role into your body and voice, and then you, along with the conductor and orchestra, tell the librettist and composers' story with your musical interpretations.  No matter what, acting is important in opera, but you must always put the quality of singing before anything else.  With musical theatre it's the marriage of three elements - singing, dancing and acting.  Musical theatre and opera allows an audience to experience a world where it is normal to just bust out in song.  I tell my students all the time that a song or aria always comes out of an emotion that is too big to express in words; whether you're singing "Vissi D'arte" from Tosca or "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.

Straight theatre is another story. You don't break into song or dance very often, and I think there is less of a "performance" element. To be perfectly honest with you, while there are the obvious technical differences between these forms of theatre, the work is the same. Your job as the actor is to tell the story with your instrument - your body, your voice. I want those with whom I get to share my work to feel and experience the character's journey as I do, and I think this can be accomplished by being connected and truthful in what I do."

Moafi has also moved on to film, TV, and commercials having been signed by Stars the Agency.  She recently filmed an independent movie Violet Is Single as the lead Violet.  The film is scheduled to screen at San Francisco's Castro Theater on Oct. 3, 2010.

Sepideh Moafi is also a voice teacher at Amabile School of Music in San Francisco.  But she has other aspirations as well, and upon being asked whether she'd like to direct one day, Moafi replied, "Absolutely! I took two years of directing classes at the Conservatory for opera direction.  I would love to explore directing, but I wouldn't jump into it anytime soon.  I first want to explore my potential as an actor, and I think that experience would allow me to eventually become an insightful director.  We'll see, maybe in 20 years!"

The next step for Moafi is to be a part of the Masters of Fine Arts program in Acting for Theatre at UC Irvine (UCI), which is one of the top programs in the country.  She would also like to add to her dance skills at UCI, one of the best dance schools in the nation.

However, UCI is really not all that far from Hollywood, and after being questioned whether she'd like to give Hollywood a try, especially the Fox series Glee, Moafi answered, "I would love to be on Glee. It's a great show."

Finally, this reporter queried Moafi on what drives her, and she stated, " What drives me is my passion: my desire to feed this insatiable appetite I have for working and doing what I love. The most important thing to me is to always be truthful in what I do, both on and off stage." And the world will never have enough of all Sepideh Moafi has to share.