The talented actress from East is East and Bend It Like Beckham, Archie Panjabi is appearing in the television 6-part thriller, Next of Kin on ITV.
Next of Kin is written by the creators of Indian Summers, Paul Rutman and partner Natasha Narayan. The very talented Emmy-winner, Archie Panjabi essays the character of a British-Pakistani doctor named Mona Harcourt.
The show has a series of terrifying consequences led by a terrorist incident in London that took four lives away. It shows how distressing it can be for an ordinary British Muslim person in the wake of such a terror attack.
Archie Panjabi, who is from Edgware, has been a prominent figure in British television and cinema. Speaking about her love of acting, she said, “I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an actor. I never even thought about other careers. The acting field is certainly not the path many Indian parents encourage their children to take, but mine were very supportive. They wanted me to have an education, but understood that this is what I wanted to do. I knew what I wanted to do for my entire life, from nursery to university. I've always been geared towards wanting to act. I've stuck with it, dedicated time to it.”
One may have been deterred from achieving their acting aspiration in British cinema and Hollywood due to the lack of diversity. However, it had the opposite effect on Archie Panjabi. She said, “I have always let the lack of Indian actors in the industry drive me, not hold me back. I remember an agent in L.A. telling me a few years ago that an Indian actor wouldn't ever make it in Hollywood, but my ethnicity has helped me.”
