The slow burn . . .
At a screening of “Tayo Lang ang Nakakaalam” at this year’s Cinemalaya film festival, a few young cinephiles perked up during an otherwise solemn scene. “O, nandito rin siya!” one of them blurted out.
It was Nour Hooshmand, playing a former classmate delivering an elegy for someone she didn’t know beyond school. She wouldn’t appear anywhere else in the movie, but she would do so twice elsewhere—in the animated short “Runo!” and the social drama “2 Valid IDs.”
“It’s the Nour Hooshmand festival,” another viewer declared. Someone was keeping a tally.
Growing presence
Over the past three years, the Filipino Iranian actress has become a familiar face in the indie scene, appearing in notable works like “Agapito,” which competed at Cannes last year, “Cinemartyrs,” and “Olsen’s Day.”
And though her name might not ring a bell with mainstream audiences yet, she’s starting to make her presence felt.
In the series “Call My Manager,” she played a burnt-out assistant who rage-quits on her boss, Judy Ann Santos. Again, it was only one scene. But sometimes, it doesn’t take more than that for people online to stop scrolling and wonder: “Who’s that?”
“Sobrang sarap sa pakiramdam. Natutuwa ako every time na-re-recognize ang work ko kahit na maikli lang ang participation,” she tells Lifestyle Inquirer.
Indeed, there’s no role too small for Hooshmand—a mindset not at all surprising for someone who used to agonize over whether she would even land one at all.
All it takes is one person
As a young girl who loved “adventure and storytelling,” taking up theater arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman made perfect sense. As an “introvert with self-image issues,” perhaps not so much. “Gusto kong maglaro… But it took me a long time to actually break out of my shell,” says the actress, whose insecurities were fueled by people telling her, at different points in her life, that she didn’t quite look the part.
And so, she spent much of her college days behind the scenes, apprenticing for theater directors and dabbling in set design and technical direction. She assisted the likes of Floy Quintos and Dexter Santos, and in the process, honed her acting.
“Whenever the actors were absent, I had to fill in for them. Memorize ko lahat ng blockings, and I had to act with the same intensity,” she recalls. “I was able to do scenes with veteran actors during rehearsals, too. Ang dami kong natutunan from those experiences.”
Now where to put those learnings into practice? In 2018, seemingly out of nowhere, the late National Artist Tony Mabesa cast her in Dulaang UP’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author.” Mabesa had to insist that she accept the part. Deep inside, she was “secretly happy.”
“All it takes is one person to believe in you,” she says. “Maybe I do deserve to be onstage and be seen.”
But while she finally had her taste of the spotlight, Hooshmand never saw it as her end goal. Her foundations taught her to put “process over output.” “‘Yong journey mo, just honor it,” she says. “If you stay true to your heart, hindi ka maliligaw.”
Dreamers in Kamuning
By following her heart, she now finds herself with two films headed into the race for the 99th Academy Awards. She stars in “Agapito,” which will be supported for consideration in the Best Live Action Short Film category, and has a supporting role in “Filipiñana,” the Philippines’ official entry in the Feature Film category.
“It’s crazy. Faith can give you wings,” she says. “I’m just happy to be here.”
To think that, three years ago, Hooshmand and “Filipiñana” lead actress Jorybell Agoto were just classmates in a Meisner acting workshop in Kamuning. They went out for drinks after one of their classes and talked about their dreams. She told Agoto that she once went up to a rooftop and manifested that she would one day star in a film.
“Minsan, kailangan mo lang din ibato sa universe, and for some reason, nakikinig ang universe sa ‘tin,” she says. “Parang nangangarap lang kami noon. Sabay kaming nag-ensayo. Hindi ako makapaniwala na nandito na kami.”
Agoto is just one of the many people in the “village” who have helped raise Hooshmand. Without a manager, she relies on word of mouth; her calling card is her latest project and how she treated the people she worked with. “Sometimes, makeup artists pa mag-re-recommend sa ‘yo,” she says. “Show up, do your best, be kind. I do believe na tao ka muna bago artist.”
A tribute to her father
Hooshmand describes her career as a “slow burn”—an accumulation of seemingly small moments. But her next role may just be her most pivotal, she surmises.
Also helmed by “Agapito” director Arvin Belarmino, “Ria” is a punk drama set to premiere at the 31st Busan International Film Festival this October. Hooshmand plays the titular music artist determined to protect her commune from demolition. “Challenging,” she says—but not for reasons she had anticipated.
“My father died while doing the film. Something changes in you when a parent dies—your heart changes,” she says. “I’m dedicating the film to him. Everything I do is rooted in love for all the people I care about.”
An artist’s calling
Still, she has never been more inspired. She’s learning to write scripts in hopes of eventually directing her own film. She’s involved in developing a theater show with Sine Pop, which she hopes to bring to the provinces. “I think ‘yan ang trabaho talaga ng artists—magtulay ng kuwento at katotohanan.”
There’s so much she wants to do. But for now, Hooshmand gets on with the grind, tackling projects, big or small, indie or mainstream, as long as she believes in them—“as long as may ambag siya sa ‘kin as an artist and as a human being.” And whatever that may be, “paghuhusayan ko pa,” she says.
Should you find yourself in cinemas in the coming days, you might catch her in the biopic “Edjop” or the drama short film “Starfish.” Or maybe somewhere random. Just in case, we’re still keeping count.
