PARMINDER NAGRA

I grew up in a very large Indian community. I had lots of cousins and you’d go to each other’s houses and hang out at the weekend; everybody was living quite nearby. When I was 16 I started working as an usher at my local theatre in Leicester, and I just remember being introduced to this world of acting and absorbing so much material. And thinking, was this something that I wanted to do in my life? I got into drama and not much later I did a play, actually at the Leicester Haymarket, where I had worked as an usher. All I remember was enjoying it and thinking this feels good, let’s see where this goes.

I didn’t worry about whether being a British Asian woman would be an issue if I wanted to act at first. I just thought, oh, I’m getting the chance to