‘Paradise’s Sarah Shahi Dreamed Of Working With Dan Fogelman Ever Since ‘This Is Us’ Premiered
When NBC’s beloved family drama This Is Us premiered in September 2016, Paradise star Sarah Shahi was so captivated by the show’s writing that she cold-emailed creator Dan Fogelman in hopes of working with him in any capacity.
“I was going through my own personal BS at the time, and that show really occupied a space in my heart,” Shahi told Decider over Zoom. “So I wrote an email to Dan, and I said, ‘I am such a fan of your writing. I would love to be a part of the show — even if I’m just getting your coffee. You have resonated with me so deeply. I have to work with you.’”
Sadly, Fogelman never replied to the email, but when Shahi landed the role of Natalie Luongo in his 2016 series, Pitch, she accepted the job in hopes that she’d finally meet her industry idol. Instead, she was let down again. “I never met Dan. I was really bummed,” Shahi said with a suspense-building smile. In the decade since This Is Us and Pitch premiered, the 45-year-old actor has starred in more than a dozen projects, including DC’s Black Adam, bestselling book adaptation Red, White & Royal Blue, and Netflix’s hit series Sex/Life. Each role was fulfilling in its own way, but when Hulu’s political thriller, Paradise, came along, Shahi’s longtime dream of working with Fogelman was finally realized.
“Here we are 12 years later. I see Dan’s name on the material. And I’m like, ‘Well, finally! Yes! I want to go in and meet him,’” Shahi explained. “Ever since Covid, most auditions have happened over Zoom. Very rarely do you go into a room in person anymore. And this was my first audition back from the actor’s strike. I hadn’t auditioned in a while. The things that have come to me within the last couple of years were things that I was fortunate enough to get offers on. But I saw the pedigree of the people involved, and I said, ‘OK, I want to go in and read for this.’”
Returning to in-person auditions for the first time in over five years admittedly made Shahi “very nervous” — especially with the added pressure of meeting one of her favorite writers. Much to her delight, the room liked her, and they even brought her back to test with lead Sterling K. Brown the day he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in American Fiction. “There were all these really cool, buzzy things surrounding my appointments with them each time,” Shahi recalled, describing This Is Us-esque levels of kismet. “It was just very beautiful. I felt like the stars were kissing me each time I went in. Sterling and I had wonderful chemistry with one another. And I ended up getting the role.”
Set in a post-apocalyptic community populated by the world’s most prominent figures, Paradise follows Xavier Collins (Brown), Secret Service agent to President Cal Bradford (James Marsden) and the chief suspect in his assassination. Julianne Nicholson, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Jon Beavers, and Krys Marshall also star in the suspenseful, compelling series, that stars Shahi as Dr. Gabriela Torabi, a world-class therapist who helps Paradise’s characters navigate the complex emotions, guilt, and grief inherent to their abnormal world.
“It was just very beautiful. I felt like the stars were kissing me…”
Sarah Shahi, Paradise
For Shahi, bringing a character as sweet and pure-hearted as Gabriela to life was a breath of fresh air — once she allowed herself to relax and inhale. “Because of the choices I’ve made in the past with the characters I’ve played, everyone’s had a streak of naughty in them. Whether you talk about Billie from Sex/Life to Zahra on Red, White & Royal Blue, City on a Hill, Person of Interest — everyone has been a bad girl to some extent. A fun bad girl. And I was looking for the bad girl,” Shahi explained. “I was looking for Gabriela’s mustache-twirling moment. When does she kill Sinatra (Nicholson) and take over? And I asked Dan, ‘What is she hiding? Everyone’s got something to hide. What is it for her?” And he was like, ‘She’s the only character in this — at least for the season — who’s not hiding anything. She’s the only person where what you see is what you get. She is purely real. She is authentic in who she is. And she’s presenting a different color than everybody else.’”
Episode 3, “The Architect of Social Wellbeing,” dives deeper into Gabriela’s past and uncovers her true Paradise purpose. We learn that she doesn’t solely offer mental health care to the community. She helped create the community. She hand-picked its 25,000 residents and is haunted every day by thoughts of those who didn’t make the cut. And in wake of the impossible decision, she set out to craft a best-case scenario environment — one that could lift people’s spirits and help them reclaim a sense of security after their worlds were turned upside down. From small touches like insect sounds recorded from National Parks across the U.S. to a diner that serves the world’s best cheese fries, it’s clear Gabriela cares deeply about people and believes in the power of tiny details. Those truths inspire Shahi to play her with refreshing levels of charm, patience, and empathy.
“Now that I’ve seen how everything plays out, it’s an interesting character choice,” the 45-year-old Paradise star explained. “Where everybody is playing some sort of demon that has grabbed onto them, Gabriela is soft. She’s really this beacon of light in this very dark space, encouraging people to find the unity within themselves.”
“Where everybody is playing some sort of demon that has grabbed onto them, Gabriela is soft. She’s really this beacon of light in this very dark space, encouraging people to find the unity within themselves.”
Sarah Shahi, Paradise
Though Gabriela has called some crucial shots in Paradise‘s world — including hiring Xavier — she ultimately works for Sinatra, who wields the most power in the series. The two have a complex relationship that goes way back, and just like their characters, Shahi and Nicholson understood each other from the start. “It was a very easy dynamic to tap into. As early as day one, our first day working with each other, we just sort of vibrated similarly,” Shahi explained. “We’re both grumpy old men at the same time on set. We can both be chatty. And it only served our characters, because they do have such a deep trust with one another. Gabriela knows her vulnerabilities and Sinatra feels safe enough to expose them to her.”
Despite Gabriela and Sinatra’s unique dynamic, Shahi’s favorite scenes are with Brown, who she watched in awe over a decade ago in his Emmy-winning role as Randall Pearson on This Is Us.
“I was acutely aware of Sterling and how good he is,” Shahi said. “Even though I love my scenes with Julianne, Gabriela has a very specific job when it comes to Sinatra. She has to make sure Sinatra does not spiral. The scenes with Sterling are more than a couple minutes long. You really get to know Gabriela. And with Xavier and Gabriela, I’m still in a discovery place with him, where I’m trying to figure out if he did it or not. So I reveal some stuff as well in order to get his trust.”
After Xavier and Gabriela spend Episode 3 having deep chats, sharing cheese fries, and learning more about each other’s lives, their emotional vulnerability leads to physical intimacy. “It’s serving two purposes,” Shahi said, reflecting on Paradise‘s super steamy shower scene. “The space they’re in in the world — there hasn’t been a lot of intimacy. I think people are lonely. People are scared. So there is that very primal sense of the proximity of having another human being this close to you, and what that does to you when you’re sharing an intimate story — especially when you haven’t gotten any in a long time. Let’s just be frank. But then there’s another side. She goes searching for a wire. They take their bracelets off. So it’s also very intentional in that this is the only safe space for her to deliver this information.”
When Shahi looks back on her Paradise Season 1 experience, she feels “very fortunate” to have shared so much screen time with Brown, who — in addition to being number one on the call sheet — is an executive producer on the series. “I just grew. I grew as a person. I grew as a performer. When he comes in in the morning, it’s almost like he’s the host and you’re stepping into his house. He checks in with you. He wants to see if there’s anything he can do to make your day go better. Is there anything that you need from him as an actor,” Shahi shared. “The decisions that he involves you in when there’s no need for him to talk to you about these kinds of things — he really brings you in on the experience. He’s such an abundant person to give that to others. So to be a part of that only means that’s how I’m going to carry myself. I’ve learned a lot from him.”
After Paradise airs its Season 1 finale, Shahi’s first book, Life is Lifey — inspired by her transformative time on Sex/Life, her different philosophies on life and relationships, and parenting three kids — is coming out late 2025 or early 2026. And as far as dream on-screen roles go, Shahi has a long wishlist. “I’d love to sing something. I grew up singing operatically for many years,” she said. “I’d love to do a Western. A period piece. I just kind of want to do everything.”
“Everything,” of course, includes Paradise Season 2. “I’m not 100% sure what that storyline would look like, but we have talked about Season 2,” Shahi confirmed. “I would be a part of [it]. And Dan is just so damn good. He creates such rich characters that really can go anywhere, and he builds in so much heart for each person. I would love to explore what Gabriela’s backstory is and go along that ride with him.”
New episodes of Paradise premiere Tuesdays on Hulu.
