I was pleasantly surprised to see a brown woman as the romantic lead of a mainstream romance (Picture: Ludovic Robert/Netflix)
Ambika Mod was one of Britain’s biggest TV stars of 2024 after her turn in Netflix’s sensational One Day – so as 2025 gets going, I’m left with one question.
Why isn’t she plastered all over our screens?
In the handful of projects the 29-year-old has done so far, she has proven herself an acting powerhouse, first gaining national acclaim with the 2022 BBC series This Is Going To Hurt.
As rundown junior doctor Shruti, not only did Mod effortlessly keep pace with Emmy, Golden Globe and Bafta-winning co-star Ben Whishaw, but her storyline provided one of the most heart wrenching performances of the year.
Her poignant portrayal of Shruti’s deteriorating mental health within a crumbling healthcare system was done with gentle care, infusing her character with a warmth and kindness that made you sympathise all the more with her plight.
It made Shruti’s tragic ending on the show all the more gutting and forced viewers, like me, to reflect on the state of the NHS.
As I grabbed for my tissues, I knew I was watching a star being born.
The comedian-turned-screen star rightfully landed a Royal Television Society win for her role.
Promptly after, it was announced that she would play Emma in the highly-anticipated Netflix adaptation of David Nicholls’ romantic drama, One Day.
Although I was already convinced of Mod’s stardom, I was pleasantly surprised to see a brown woman as the romantic lead of a mainstream romance – a fact that not only Ambika herself acknowledged, but almost held her back from accepting the role in the first place.
Despite her reservations, boy did Mod deliver.
Mod should be as buzzy as Leo Woodall and other breakout actors, with a stack of high-profile roles ahead of her (Photo: Tristan Fewings/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
Following in the footsteps of Anne Hathaway, bringing to life this beloved, and complex role that spans 20 years was no easy feat. But Ambika’s sweet humour, easy chemistry with Leo and subtly devastating portrayal exceeded my already high expectations.
It’s no surprise that the show rose to the most globally viewed show on Netflix just a couple of weeks after its release. It was praised by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Mischa Barton. And became one of the most-talked-about shows in my own circle of friends for weeks.
I felt sure that, after starring in such a global hit, Ambika was about to become the actor on everyone’s lips whether it was for future projects, collecting award nominations or even fancast in dream projects.
After all, in the first few years of her career, Ambika had shown she was a skilled cross-genre performer able to secure critical acclaim and global viewership.
Yet, she has not starred in anything in almost a whole year.
As someone who is eager to catch anything she is set to star in, I’m quietly devastated by this.
It would have been lovely to see her flex her range even more, such as in period dramas like Bridgerton, or even go back to her comedy roots (she is a regular on the Edinburgh Fringe improv scene) as a star in upcoming sitcoms on mainstream channels like the BBC and ITV – especially since she is yet to play a full-out comedy role.
This is made all the more disappointing by the fact that her co-star Leo Woodall is currently promoting not one, but two new high-profile projects – Apple TV+’s Prime Target and Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
What’s more, he’s now a favourite to play the next James Bond.
Back in August 2023, it was announced that Mod was cast in the forthcoming Disney+ show, Playdate, and she will also appear in the Romain Gavras-directed thriller Sacrifice, starring Anya Taylor-Joy.
However, neither project seems to have announced a release date as of yet, and she seemingly has no other upcoming projects, according to film and TV database, IMDb.
Frankly, it’s not good enough.
For a breakout star with such proven talent, Ambika Mod deserves the Hollywood treatment, with advertising and back-to-back jobs.
Instead, it’s Leo Woodall I see constantly splashed across my feed, newspapers and the screen at a far bigger rate than Ambika.
I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve his success – he absolutely does and has rightly earned it ever since he broke into cultural discourse in 2022 with his role in The White Lotus – but I do feel Ambika deserves the same.
While I’m sure her career will continue to flourish as time goes on, the speed and levels at which her well-deserved fame is taking is leaving me, and other fans, concerned.
If we’re not careful, we’ll be repeating the same mistakes made in the past when it came to the careers of women of colour after their acclaimed breakout roles.
Dev Patel has also spoken about his struggle with typecasting and ‘fighting for the same roles’ (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
After 2002’s British hit film Bend It Like Beckham, Keira Knightley catapulted to a level of stardom far above that of her Asian co-star Parminder Nagra.
Though Nagra went on to star in – and then lead – the long-running medical series ER from 2003 to 2009, she did not have the international media presence and major Hollywood opportunities that Knightley did.
In 2021, Nagra recalled being told by a TV exec years before that ‘brown people don’t sell’ and a show she was auditioning for had ‘already got a person who’s Indian’ in it.
As shocking as it sounds, the sidelining of actors of colour is a phenomenon still happening in the present day.
After his breakout role in Skins, followed by an Oscar nomination for Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel has spoken about his struggle with typecasting and ‘fighting for the same roles’ – and it is one of the main reasons he chose to ‘create his own world’ by writing and directing action film Monkey Man.
In 2022, Bridgerton star Simone Ashley spoke about how ‘things have taken longer than other young actors’ such as her white peers and last year she launched her own production company, Good Catch Entertainment, in the hope of, much like Patel, having more control over her work.
As she told Variety: ‘The more experience I have, the more I am learning that producing your own work can really change things. You can tell stories that otherwise would never see the light of day.’
Bridgerton star Simone Ashley launched her own production company last year to have more control over her work (Photo: John Phillips/Getty Images)
It’s a sentiment echoed by Mean Girls star Avantika who told Cosmo: ‘In a room full of a hundred people, Hollywood is now offering spots to maybe three women of South Asian descent’ which prevents her from ‘taking a break’ as the fear they’ll ‘forget about you is so imminent and so real’.
There are likely countless women of colour who never managed to break through thanks to these prejudices still woven into the industry, and I worry that Mod could be another victim.
And even though there’s been progress, we can’t afford to be complacent. I don’t want to hear that in a decade we will be sat commiserating over similar tales told by Mod about her struggles after breakout fame.
Now the playing field has partially, if not fully, evened out for South Asian stars, Mod should be as buzzy as Leo Woodall and other breakout actors, with a stack of high-profile roles ahead of her.
She should not have to join other creatives of colour like Dev Patel and Simone Ashley by having to take the burden of carving out representation, and ensuring her career continues after a breakout role. Instead, TV and film execs need to acknowledge there is still a pattern and step up.
Similarly, the media needs to be more proactive in its support for early-career stars looking for their next step, especially for someone who has shown their brimming talent as far back as 2022.
It should be the year of Ambika Mod and I won’t hear otherwise.
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