Smart move for Megan
ACTORS in the past have been known to change exotic last names for a more “normal” alternative – Helen Mirren’s last name was Mironoff and Jennifer Aniston’s was Anastassakis – but this young rising star did the opposite.
For the majority of her career so far, Megan Hajjar’s last name was Smart.
She changed it to her mother’s Lebanese maiden name because she believed it was contributing to her losing out on roles in culturally diverse films.
“Hajjar is actually my mother’s maiden name so I wanted to change it back to that,” she said.
“Smart is the name I was given and I wanted to change it to my mother’s maiden name because I was going up for a lot of roles, and missing out on a lot of roles, that were characters of a Lebanese heritage.
“I think I was missing out on them because of the optics of Smart. Over the last few years there have been a few.”
One role she did secure with her Lebanese looks was M4M, a feature film alongside Hugo Weaving in which she plays Jaiwara, a lead Muslim love interest.
At just 25 years old, the Mosman actor has already acted alongside other big names such as John Cleese in The Naked Wanderer, Simon Baker in Breath and Rose Byrne in Peter Rabbit 2.
Her next big role is in production – the Channel 7 drama Between Two Worlds with Cold Feet and Spooks actor Hermione Norris.
Seven Studios announced filming had begun in Sydney last week, labelling it a “high-concept thriller”.
It revolves around two families whose worlds collide, with descriptive terms “tangled web of lies and manipulation”, “shocking twist of fate” and “destructive secrets” all being used by the network to give prospective viewers a taste of what’s in store.
As well as Norris and Hajjar, the impressive list of cast members includes Philip Quast from Picnic At Hanging Rock and Hacksaw Ridge, Sara Wiseman from A Place To Call Home and Aaron Jeffery from Wentworth
and Chopper.
Hajjar was tight-lipped on her character, but said she was confident the world – not just Australia – would take notice.
“I think this show is really going to compete on an international level,” she said.