Ambika Mod has emerged as the latest breakout star, wowing audiences with her acting skills.
Ambika born on October 2, 1995, in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, is best known for playing Emma Morley in Netflix’s One Day, based on David Nicholls’ novel. She stars alongside Leo Woodall as Dexter Mayhew in this emotional series.
One Day follows Emma and Dexter, who first meet on the night of their graduation from Edinburgh University.
The story spans 20 years, with each episode showing them on the same day, July 15th, over two decades.
Throughout the series, we watch their relationship grow and change as they face love, heartbreak, personal struggles, and success. The show reveals how timing and life choices shape their connection.
The movie adaptation of One Day stars Anne Hathaway as Emma Morley and Jim Sturgess as Dexter Mayhew. It was released on August 19, 2011.
Who is Ambika Mod?
Ambika studied at Dame Alice Owen’s School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies from St Mary’s College, Durham.
At Durham, she took part in sketch comedy through the university’s Revue.
The Herefordshire-born star worked as a personal assistant at Condé Nast. Although she is now a well-known figure, Ambika also dabbled in comedy at night alongside her job.
Ambika Mod studied acting at Theatrix Performing Arts in St Albans, based at the Abbey Theatre.
In 2015, she performed with Tom Harper at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and served as the troupe’s president in 2017.
What is Ambika Mod’s ethnicity?
While details about her ethnicity are not widely publicised, Ambika Mod is Indian. Her parents both left India with her mother arriving in the UK as a child, and her father in his 20s.
Ambika once opened up about the challenges of being a woman of color in the showbiz industry.
While promoting her role in One Day, she noticed a difference in how her performance was discussed compared to her white co-star, Leo Woodall.
While his acting was often praised, her ethnicity seemed to garner more attention, with people focusing more on the fact that she’s “brown” rather than her acting skills.
Ambika Mod Interview
Ambika admitted that while her Indian background is part of her experience, she feels her British identity influenced her portrayal of Emma Morley the most.
She told Deadline: “The color of my skin has been a massive part of the discourse when I was doing press for this show. [Prejudice] can be such a subtle but insidious double-edged sword that most people wouldn’t even notice it.
“When people talked about my white co-star [Leo Woodall]’s performance, they would often talk about his acting and the quality of his work, whereas with me — not all the time — it was about how amazing it was that I’m brown, and what a change-making casting choice it was. I would think, ‘What about my performance and my work?’”
She added: “I would say my being British actually informed my experience of playing Emma Morley more than my being Indian, although I wouldn’t completely erase it from the equation.”
As well as her role in One Day Ambika also starred in This Is Going to Hurt, a British medical comedy-drama based on Adam Kay’s best-selling memoir.
In the series, she plays a key role alongside the lead, Ben Whishaw, who portrays Adam Kay, a junior doctor navigating the chaos and challenges of the NHS.
Here’s a clip of Ambika and her One Day co-star Leo Woodall discussing their favourite lines from the TV show.