How I Met Your Mother's Nazanin Boniadi has opened up about her groundbreaking role in Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Boniadi stars as Southlands apothecary owner and healer Bronwyn who is romantically linked to a Silvan Elf named Arondir (Ismael Cruz Córdova).
The actress attended San Diego Comic-Con in July, where she told Digital Spy and other press about her groundbreaking role portraying a love story between a human and an elf.
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"Even the love story between myself and Ismael, you're looking at [an] Afro Latino man and a Middle Eastern woman," explained Boniadi.
"If you look at the love interests, and even within our own communities, there's bigotry," she added.
The actress revealed how she and her co-star, and on-screen love interest, Ismael Cruz Córdova often discussed acceptance of interracial relationships within their own cultures.
"Ismael and I talk about this often, about acceptance within our own cultures of what that love means, you know, is it acceptable for a Middle Eastern woman and Afro Latino man to be in love and how does society look at that?
Related: How Rings of Power made groundbreaking set change
Boniadi said that the love story will resonate with couples who are not accepted: "That forbidden romance has underlying meaning and resonance, I think, for a lot of couples that may not be accepted."
In the same interview she touched on the representation of female characters in the series which boasts major parts for female performers including Queen Regent of Númenor, Míriel (Arrow's Cynthia Addai-Robinson), Galadriel (Saint Maud's Morfydd Clark) and Nori Brandyfoot (True History of the Kelly Gang's Markella Kavenagh).
"The idea that there are female protagonists and so many female protagonists with agency is everything to me because I'm a women's rights activist. So for me, it's everything. It's a huge responsibility."
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is on Amazon Prime Video from September 2, 2022.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
Gabriella Geisinger is a freelance film critic and journalist, with a focus on J-drama & film, and the Japanese production industry. She was previously Locations Editor at Screen International and Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy. Her writing can also befound in Curzon, 1883, and more. A born and raised New Yorker, she loves coffee and the colour black, obviously.
