It’s really hard to believe that we live in a world where people, especially women, still have to fight for basic human rights. Women are not allowed to study and are told to wear certain kinds of clothes. But women are strong, and there are many stories that showcase their resilience. One such story is of Afghan Dreamers, a group of young women from Afghanistan who overcame every obstacle to take one of their innovations in front of the world. However, not many know about this extraordinary story that made everyone believe how greatness can be achieved if people continue to follow their dreams despite all the difficulties. This inspiring story is the premise of Bill Guttentag’s ‘Rule Breakers,’ which sees a group of women spark hope in the hearts of millions of girls like them, especially in their home country of Afghanistan. Apart from having a great narrative, it’s the performances that make this film such a riveting watch. One of the finest performances in the movie comes from Amber Afzali, who plays Esin in the movie.
Amber Afzali, a daughter of Afghan immigrant parents, was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, before relocating to Southern California. She took a liking to acting at a very young age and started taking acting classes. But she didn’t let her studies suffer and took her degree in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations. However, she never left acting, and with Rule Breakers, she starred in her first lead role. Coastal House Media journalist Aayush Sharma caught up with Amber Afzali to discuss her movie Rule Breakers and how the story of Afghan Dreamers inspired her. Moreover, she opened up about how Esin’s journey resonated with her on a more personal level.
A still of Amber Afzali as Esin in ‘Rule Breakers’ (Image Courtesy: Angel Studios)
Aayush Sharma: First of all, congratulations on the film—it’s truly brilliant and thought-provoking. I’d love to start by asking you about your journey. You began as an actor, then shifted towards studying political science and international relations, and now you’re balancing acting with activism. How has this unique journey unfolded for you, and how do you manage to juggle all these different passions and pursuits?
Amber Afzali: The journey’s definitely been like a roller coaster of emotions because I have, I did start off when I was acting as a kid, and that was something that I absolutely loved. And that’s something that really took me out of my comfort zone and broke me out of my shell. But I was always someone who highly valued education, and my family also highly valued education, and being a child actor, it’s really hard to balance and juggle both. Not saying that it can’t be done, but it is pretty difficult. And knowing what my ambitions were, knowing what my hopes were for myself academically, my parents thought it best to put acting on the back burner, focus on my education. And so, yeah, I went to college and studied political science and concentrated in international relations because of my passion for the South Asian and Middle Eastern region. And that was something that I was very passionate about, learning more about and maybe helping in the future.
When the pandemic happened, I think I had a big moment of self-reflection and realized that I’m not necessarily doing the creative side or justice, the creative side of myself. I’m not necessarily giving that its due time, and I really wanted to find a way to explore that creativity. And I remembered acting as something where I felt safe, and I absolutely loved it. So I decided to jump back into an acting class. And from that moment onward, everything happened so quickly with representation and with the audition, this being my first audition, just felt like it was what it was meant to be. And because the topic was about Afghanistan, which was about women’s rights, I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing my interests in international relations to pursue acting. They just kind of blended perfectly. But it’s been a great journey.
Aayush Sharma: Esin’s journey in Rule Breakers is marked by profound hope and moments of deep heartbreak as she pushes against societal barriers to pursue her dreams. As an actor, connecting authentically to such a powerful emotional arc can be challenging and transformative. Can you walk us through how you connected to Esin’s struggles and victories—whether through your own experiences, emotions you tapped into, or specific moments during filming that resonated with you on a deeper, more personal level?
Amber Afzali: Playing Esin, it was wonderful to be able to portray someone who’s based on the Afghan Dreamers. I’d heard about these girls before, I’d heard about their journey, and I was really rooting for them. And I knew all of the sacrifices that they did and they underwent because this was such a prominent story for girls who are Afghan or Afghan-American or part of the diaspora. So I was very inspired by these girls and I tried to make sure that when I played Esen, I played her authentically, I played her with the full range of emotions that Afghan girls have, which unfortunately isn’t seen in Western media. I really wanted to make sure that Esen was a complete, dynamic character with fears and hopes and ambitions, and she has a crush and she has friendships and she has, you know, she’s a complete girl. She’s a complete teenage girl. So I really wanted to make sure that I was tapping into that. I think that was easy because I am an Afghan girl, and I do have that background. I do speak the language, I understand the culture. So really tapping into those aspects was valuable for me. Esen’s journey is one where she finds her voice.
So, for me, I grew up pretty shy, and through acting and through some of the school activities that I did, I slowly found my voice and started to use it for things that I’m passionate about and things that I care about, like Esin does. And I love in Esen’s story, she really leans on the community around her because I have found that that has been the most helpful thing in finding your voice is leaning on those, especially the women in your circle. And so I really tried to bring that and show that into Esen’s character and her development. I think it does become a little bit emotionally taxing when you have those really heavy scenes, about when you have the bombing, or when you have scenes where her uncle isn’t allowing her to go abroad, or when her uncle is upset and pulls her out of a party. Those scenes can be emotionally heavy because you realize that this is truly what is happening in the region. This is not something that’s just fictitious, and it’s just in a movie, and we could never get to that point. It’s truly happening in real life. So I think understanding that, reflecting, and always being optimistic that we might be, that this film could spark conversation again on women’s rights and women’s education in the region—that’s kind of what kept me grounded. And that kept me feeling like the performances that I gave needed to have a full impact and needed to be sending a message to others.
Aayush Sharma: What specific preparations or research did you undertake to authentically portray a young Afghan woman pursuing STEM education under such intense societal pressures?
Amber Afzali: Well, it was very nice to be able to play a girl who might be academically inclined towards STEM, but she doesn’t have any experience with robotics. She doesn’t have any experience actually diving into these sorts of mechanics. She kind of learns it as she goes. And that’s really what I felt like my journey was like. Of course, I did preparation and I watched tons of videos of FIRST Robotics. I watched tons of videos of the girls competing and saw their journey, and read those articles. And I felt that I had that connection where I might be more academically inclined, but I’ve never had a full exposure to a lot of what STEM entails. So being on set, we had robotics teams from around the world come, showcase their designs and put them in the film, and teach us how to use their designs, and what parts we could touch, what parts we can’t touch. What is the purpose of their design? That was incredible. That really provided a lot of insight.
To have the students who built these robots actually on set with us was incredible. A lot of them are in the film too, which is amazing that we utilized real STEM-focused girls and boys from around the world. So that was really helpful.
A still from ‘Rule Breakers’ (Image Courtesy: Angel Studios)
Aayush Sharma: Since Rule Breakers is inspired by the real-life journey of the Afghan Dreamers, I’m curious—did you have the opportunity to meet any of the team members or hear their stories directly before or during production? If so, could you share how those personal interactions, or even hearing their firsthand experiences, influenced the way you approached Esin’s character?
Amber Afzali: I was able to meet up with Roya and Alaha. So Roya is the woman who started the team, and Alaha is her sister. I was able to meet up with them before filming began, and that was very helpful in understanding the gravity of what they were accomplishing and what they were doing, and also understanding Roya’s personality and how her relationship with the girls was. That really influenced the relationship that I would have with Nicole Boucheri, who played Roya. I wanted to make sure that we were keeping that in line so that it felt like the chemistry was there. And it truly was. It was beautiful because Nicole is such a fantastic actor, and she’s wonderful. And the other girls as well, I heard about the camaraderie between the girls, and luckily,y that was also a very natural chemistry between us. During filming, it was primarily Roya and Alaha, but after filming—so I used their insight and I watched TED Talks of the girls and those things to inspire my acting—but after filming, we had met Soumaya, who was on the original team, Saghar, who was on the original team as well, and Reyhana, who was on the third team and she’s studying in Doha right now. And we met Coach Ali.
So to hear their positive experiences after watching the film and to see them truly say that this was an authentic performance and that they felt they were seeing their life in double time on screen, that was incredible. And that really felt like we did the purpose, the story, justice. But Roya and Alaha’s insights were probably the most valuable before filming.
Aayush Sharma: Given the emotionally charged and often intense nature of Rule Breakers, portraying characters constantly navigating fear, resilience, and hope must have been both physically and emotionally draining. During long or particularly demanding shoot days, how did you and the rest of the cast maintain emotional stamina?
Amber Afzali: We had so many late-night conversations, especially after those long days or after those hard days of just decompressing and talking with each other and reflecting on what happened and how we feel, and having such a tight-knit community. I mean, we basically lived together for nine weeks abroad. And this was something that I’m so grateful that I had the chance to do because it really did blend that chemistry seamlessly. It was so beautiful. But on those days that were especially emotionally taxing or draining, we always knew that we had someone to talk to and someone to connect with. And in order to make sure that it wasn’t all work, work, work, and never felt like that, because to be on set with such an incredible cast and crew, you feel like it’s play all the time. But even beyond that, we wanted to make sure that we were traveling and exploring new sites. This was my first time and a lot of our first times in Morocco and in Hungary. So we wanted to make sure that we were exploring. We went to Isowera, we went to the mountains, we went to different sites and tourist things. And those really helped, like reset our minds so that we were ready for the next day.
Aayush Sharma: How did the production team create a sense of authenticity in recreating Afghanistan’s environment, and how did that impact your immersion into Esin’s world?
Amber Afzali: The production team did an incredible job in transforming Morocco into Afghanistan. I have never had the chance to go to Afghanistan. But when I sent pictures to family members of the set, they were blown away by how accurate it was. Something that I think is so unfortunate is that in Western media, we often see Afghanistan as being very bleak, very dismal, very brown, you know, and just plain. The production team did a fantastic job at showcasing the color behind every scene and all of the beautiful sites and all of the beautiful stores. A lot of ways that they made sure that they were portraying this authentically was by using one of the writers who was Roya’s sister, Elaha. Her insight was invaluable in the making of this film. Also, we had some of the writers and some of the people on production who have been to Afghanistan, who were able to kind of replicate that.
Our production, our design team, you know, set design did an insane amount of research, just trying to make sure that this was all accurate. And even the words of spelling, and those things, and the types of dialect that they portrayed on the signs had to be checked again because this was Herat. It’s a very specific dialect. It’s a specific region in Afghanistan, and they wanted to make sure that was accurate. It was honestly transformative, and it really helped me to get into the character of Esin because when you feel like you’re in Afghanistan as this young girl, you can completely shift your mindset on how valuable these opportunities really are.
(Image Courtesy: Angel Studios)
Aayush Sharma: One of Esin’s most powerful moments in Rule Breakers is when she finally stands up for herself and her dreams—particularly during her stirring speech about women’s rights and personal freedom. It’s such a pivotal turning point, not just for her character but for the emotional arc of the entire film. Can you walk us through how you prepared for that scene—both emotionally and technically? What did it mean to you personally to give voice to Esin’s defiance, and how did you ensure that the weight and authenticity of that moment truly landed with the audience?
Amber Afzali: I’m so glad to hear you say that, that you connected with that scene. That was one of my, it’s one of my favorite scenes and it’s because that took a lot of work and a lot of energy to be able to portray that speech scene with the varying levels of emotion, that timidness beforehand, that lack of self-confidence to when she looks out at the girls and she sees them cheering her on, and then she finally feels that she has that confidence to send that scene home. Then at the end of it, you really see her start to, you know, roll her shoulders back with pride and joy and feel like she’s accomplished something. And that was a beautiful scene to film. I think one of the biggest ways in which I was able to portray that scene with such authenticity was talking with our wonderful director, Bill, who really had one-on-one conversations with each of us. But he sat me down and we just kind of went through what her story arc was, what her character arc was, and why this scene is so pivotal for not just Esin’s storyline, but for the entire film and for Afghan girls around the world.
I think it’s such a beautiful scene, and when a girl can find her voice, and how impactful that can be. And for me, the thing that really helped me connect with Essence during that time was that this was my first big, long scene ever on set. This was just something that was my first time being on a set. Then we had some prominent members in the audience. You know, we have Nicole Busceri, we have Phoebe Waller-Bridge, we have an incredible production team. I just wanted to make sure that I was making everyone proud and that I didn’t screw it up, kind of like Essence for her team. So that really helped me in portraying that authentically. And Esin, when she looks out at the girls and when she looks out at Nicole or Roya and Ali, she sees them and they cheer her on, and then she’s able to send that scene home. Same way for me, I was so nervous and I was up on the stage and I was looking out at my castmates, you know, Nina, Sara, Mariam, Nikohl, Noorin, and I felt inspired to just send it and just give it my full attention and full detail and full emotion.
Aayush Sharma: You’ve mentioned how Esin’s character has impacted you personally, but as an actor, what was the most surprising discovery you made about yourself during the filming process?
Amber Afzali: That is such a good question. I think as an actor, I realized that when I have, that a lot of the acting that I do is bouncing off of other people’s emotions and other people’s insights and other people’s demeanor during a scene. I don’t, I realized something that, you know, a lot of us actors in today’s day and age are doing self-tapes and monologues in our room with a camera alone. But the type of acting that is the most fun, the best type of acting and the one where you can really perform and go all out, which is what I love to do, is when you have incredibly dedicated cast mates, when you have an incredible, incredibly realistic set design and when you’re in costume and that just transforms the performance. So I think what I really developed is a lot of confidence in my acting abilities by being on this set. And I’m so grateful to the entire team for fostering an environment where we can grow our confidence. So now I feel like an actor who is capable of delivering. And that’s, I think, the best feeling as an actor.
Aayush Sharma: You’re surrounded by such a talented cast, including the actors who play your sisters and friends, as well as Phoebe Waller-Bridge. What was the experience like working with such an incredible group of people?
Amber Afzali: They, you know, they are like my sisters. They’re incredible. I, Nina, Sara, Mariam, like we connected on a level that I didn’t know that I would find in my lifetime. You know, friends who have such similar backgrounds, such similar interests, and shared experiences culturally. That was incredible. And we really did feel like sisters. We traveled all the time together, and they’re such talented actors. I mean, it’s incredible to work with them. Noorin felt like a true brother. I mean, he played Coach Ali, and he, you know, as Coach Ali, he’s watching over the girls and making sure they get their opportunities. And as himself, as Noorin, he did the same for us girls on set. And he’s incredible.
He is so supportive. And I’m grateful to have, you know, a new brother for life. I don’t have a brother that is, you know, direct lineage, but he is someone that’s very close to being my brother.
So I appreciate that from him. And Nikohl is such a grounded actor who, you know, seeks a lot of her inspiration and solace. And she gets a lot of inspiration from one-on-one conversations with each of us or one-on-one conversations with the director. That is so beautiful. And Phoebe Waller-Bridge is effortlessly funny. She is so laid back down to earth. When you feel her walk on set, it’s just like, hey guys, like you’ve known her for a million years. She’s known you for a million years. You’re just like, ‘hey’. She’s incredible. And I talked about video games with her for so long, especially Tomb Raider, just to find out that she’s writing the new Tomb Raider series for Amazon. I was like, I was mind blown. I was shocked. So she’s, honestly, I enjoyed working with her. And I’m glad that I had a scene where she, I know that she had to clap for my speech, but it felt good knowing Phoebe Waller-Bridge is clapping after my speech in the movie.
(Image Courtesy: Angel Studios)
Aayush Sharma: You mentioned that you’ve never had the chance to visit Afghanistan, but given the current situation there, and also what’s happening here in the USA regarding women’s rights, there’s a certain parallel in the challenges women face in both places. While the circumstances may not be identical, the struggles are strikingly similar. How difficult is it for you, as a woman, to accept the fact that governments in both countries seem to be pushing women’s rights backward, almost to the point of regression?
Amber Afzali: It’s heartbreaking. It does feel like a regression. It does feel like we’re, we’re eliminating so much of the progress that we have made, you know, over time. I’m hoping that there are going to be some people, and I have faith in humanity, that there are people who are going to step up and who are going to demand that we maintain and preserve and keep expanding women’s rights. But it is truly heartbreaking to see because I, and I will say this, when you eliminate half of the population from being active members of your society, active members of the community, active members of the economy, just active members who work, who take care of children, who are out and about, who have friends, who have social settings, who are in government, you are eliminating half of your country’s potential and half of your country’s growth. And so that is, you’re just stifling your own country. So it is truly saddening to see, but I’m hoping that there’s going to be a wake-up call for everyone to see how important women, women’s contributions are to society.
Aayush Sharma: If Esin could speak directly to young women facing similar barriers today, what message do you think she would give them—and did that influence how you played her?
Amber Afzali: I think the ultimate message that Esin would give, and that really did influence the final scenes that Aisin has, where she finds her voice, would be that no matter who is telling you no, no matter who is telling you that you can’t, you 100% can and you do have a voice and your voice is more meaningful than you will ever understand. So find your voice, use your voice, and just kind of, especially use your voice in front of all of the naysayers.
Rule Breakers starring Amber Afzali is available for streaming on the official website of Angel Studios.
