Coworker's One Question Launches Adelaide Actor to HBO Stardom

A simple question at work changed everything for Shabana Azeez: "What do you really want to do?"

Growing up in Adelaide in a family focused on academics, Azeez never studied drama or pursued acting formally. But when her coworker asked point-blank about her dreams, she confessed the truth. Within an hour, he'd driven her to her first ever audition.

That random act of kindness became the launchpad for an unexpected career. Azeez landed that first short film role with zero training, then built momentum through voice work on the animated series Lesbian Space Princess and a role in the thriller Bird Eater.

The biggest leap came when she auditioned for The Pitt, HBO's buzzy medical drama. The script confused her at first with dozens of characters identified only by last names, forcing her to color-code pages just to track who was who.

Her audition was equally bewildering. A scheduled 20-minute Zoom call ended abruptly after just nine minutes, leaving her convinced she'd bombed. The silence that followed felt crushing.

Then came the news that changed everything: HBO would sponsor her visa and fly her to Los Angeles. The role hadn't originally been written as South Asian, but the production adjusted the character's background after her audition.

Why This Inspires

The move to LA brought exhilaration mixed with brutal loneliness. During production boot camp, castmates texted friends and family at lunch while Azeez had no one in her time zone to reach. She describes those early days as "horrible in so many ways."

Salvation came through work. She formed a fast friendship with costar Supriya Ganesh, who plays Dr. Samira Mohan. That bond became both personal support and professional grounding.

For Azeez, having her character's background changed to reflect her own South Asian identity felt healing. "All of our experiences in the world are embodied experiences, and mine is that of a young brown woman," she says.

From Adelaide indie sets to HBO's production machine, Azeez discovered the core remained the same. "Everyone cares about the story," she notes, whether the crew numbers five or five hundred.

One coworker's willingness to ask a direct question and spend an hour helping a stranger chase a dream created ripples neither could have predicted.