Megan Smart changes surname to mother’s maiden name in hopes of scoring diverse roles

Actors in the past have been known to change exotic last names for a more “normal” alternative — Helen Mirren’s last name was Mironoff and Jennifer Aniston’s was Anastassakis — but this young rising star did the opposite.

Actors in the past have been known to change exotic last names for a more “normal” alternative — Helen Mirren’s last name was Mironoff and Jennifer Aniston’s was Anastassakis — but this young rising star did the opposite.

For the majority of her career so far, Megan Hajjar’s last name was Smart.

She changed it to her mother’s Lebanese maiden name because she believed the it was contributing to her losing out on roles in culturally diverse films.

“Hajjar is actually my mother’s maiden name so I wanted to change it back to that,” she told Confidential.

She has been known as Megan Smart for most of her acting career but recently changed her surname to Hajjar. Picture: Toby Zerna

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“Smart is the name I was given and I wanted to change it to my mother’s maiden name because I was going up for a lot of roles, and missing out on a lot of roles, that were characters of a Lebanese heritage.

“And I think I was missing out on them because of the optics of Smart.

“Over the last few years there have been quite a few.”

One role she did secure with her Lebanese looks was M4M, a feature film alongside Hugo Weaving where she plays Jaiwara, a lead Muslim love interest.

At just 25-years-old, the Mosman actor has already acted alongside other huge names such as John Cleese in The Naked Wanderer, Simon Baker in Breath and Rose Byrne in Peter Rabbit 2.

She will star as a Muslim love interest in M4M alongside Hugo Weaving. Picture: Supplied/Nikstar PR.

Hajjar has worked alongside big names in the business. Picture: Damian Shaw

Her next big role is in production, Channel 7 drama Between Two Worlds alongside Cold Feet and Spooks actor Hermione Norris.

Seven Studios announced filming had begun in Sydney last week, labelling it a “high concept thriller”.

It revolves around two families whose worlds collide, with descriptive terms “tangled web of lies and manipulation”, “shocking twist of fate” and “destructive secrets” all being used by the network to give prospective viewers a taste of what’s in store.

As well as Norris, Hajjar will add even more impressive cast members including Philip Quast from Picnic at Hanging Rock and Hacksaw Ridge, Sara Wiseman from A Place to Call Home and Aaron Jeffery from Wentworth and Chopper.

Hajjar was tight-lipped on her character, with more details to be released soon, but said she is confident the world — not just Australia — will take notice.

“I think this show is really going to compete on an international level,” she said.