Moving on is hard to do

IN sci-fi drama Reverie, people can opt to take a break from the harsh realities of life and enter a virtual-reality simulation which lets them recreate their best memories and fantasies. The problem is some of them never want to leave this place. Human behaviour expert Mara – played by Person Of Interest star Sarah Shahi – is hired to help them deal with this addiction. Shahi, whose father passed away just before she signed on to Reverie, shares the one memory she longs to return to, if she could. “I have a very specific memory of me and my dad by the Great Pine Lake (in California). I was no more than four years old, and I just remember being like a cat in between his legs and just living in between his legs,” she tells Collider. “If I could relive those moments, a couple times, when I remember feeling so safe and like I could do anything and be anything, I would.” The 38-year-old actress, who is of Iranian and Spanish ancestry, also shares with Syfy about the Reverie’s ethnically-diverse cast: “Everyone just naturally inhabits their role. It doesn’t feel like any of it was on purpose.” But she feels there is still work to be done when it comes to diversity in Hollywood in general: “Even the fact that we have to point out diversity in itself is, to me, a signal we’re not there yet ... Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s fine. You hope Hollywood is becoming more colour blind in that sense.” – Kenneth Chaw