British Indian Actress Ambika Modi Excels in the ‘Flinty and Vulnerable’ Role in Netflix’s ‘One Day’
- She is well known for playing Shruti Acharya, a junior doctor in “This is Going to Hurt,” for which she won the 2023 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for best actress.
Ambika Mod rarely saw people like her in lead roles. That’s why the British Indian actress initially turned down the role that’s given her global recognition. Mod is seen as Emma Morley in the hugely popular Netflix series “One Day.” The 14-episode British series is adapted from David Nicholls’ 2009 bestselling novel of the same name. It chronicles “the slow-burning, two-decade-spanning relationship” between Emma and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall), according to Netflix. Variety describes Em, as Dexter calls, her as “a no-nonsense and bookish girl from the English county of Yorkshire.”
Mod was 13 when she first picked up a copy of the book. “Everyone at school was reading it,” she told Elle. “I remember seeing that orange and white cover all over public transport – it was everywhere.”
In several interviews and also at the premiere in London earlier this month, Mod said her initial skepticism for the role had many reasons. The doubt whether she’d fit for the role stemmed from the lack of women like her as romantic leads. The second was the “weight of representing Asian women on-screen.” Though she “loved the book and the character,” she didn’t see herself as a romantic lead. “I thought that that concept was absolutely absurd.” But when she “delved” into the reasons “a bit more,” and “dissected” them, she realized that she must accept the role for the exact two reasons she’s doubtful of it.
As Slate noted, the Netflix adaptation was greeted with some skepticism after it was announced. Less that 15 years ago, the novel was adapted into a 2011 movie, starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. It was “poorly received among both critics and audience members,” Slate said. But the show, which released on Netflix on Feb. 8, became “an unexpected hit, as evidenced by rave reviews and by scores of posts on social media.
‘A Revelation’
Edinburgh-based journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy found Mod to be “such a revelation that it is hard to believe this is her first lead role,” she writes in The Guardian. “Her Em is flinty, vulnerable, committed and relentlessly deadpan.”
However, she confesses that her reaction to seeing Mod play Emma was “complicated.” She was “thrilled,” as she’s never seen someone who looks like her, “living the life I lived around the time I lived it, on screen before.” But it is also the reason why “it didn’t ring true,” she says. “Because race (and class, for that matter) didn’t work like that back then,” she explains. “White boys like Dex didn’t fancy brown girls like Em,” she says. “I know because I was one, although I went to Glasgow.” She admits that “in the first few episodes, the unmentionability of Emma’s race” got to her. “The truth is, Dex (and his parents) would have made unintentionally racist blunders. And Em would have forgiven him.” That said, she describes the series as “a flawless romcom you’ll fall for.”
American Kahani, in a review, says Mod’s “powerful portrayal” as Emma “should be savored slowly, like a tall iced latte.” Monita Soni, writes that Mod’s “charismatic on-screen persona, svelte body, delectable British accent, and conversational style,” grows on the viewer.” For her, “the show’s ability to capture the essence of life’s experiences, both happy and apprehensive, is admirable.”
In a review in the Slate, Nadira Goffe writes that “One Day” is “captivating” because of “this back-and-forth between Dex and Emma, fueled by a frustrating lifetime of communication errors.” According to Goffe, the show “oscillates between two tones: horrendously awkward, which is poison for watchers vulnerable to secondhand embarrassment, and tragically sad, which is agonizing for hopeless romantics”
Variety calls it “a beautiful and heartbreaking examination of 20 years of friendship.” However, while the series is “beautifully bingeable,” Aramide Tinubu points out “one glaring omission.” Viewers spend “a great deal of time with Dex, his vibrant mother, Alison (Essie Davis), and his reserved father, Stephen (Tim McInnerny), yet there no sightings of Em’s family and barely any mention of them.” While the character in the novel and its film adaptation is white, “casting an actress of Indian descent for the lead role was clearly a deliberate choice,” Tinbu observed. “It therefore seems careless that Em’s heritage has no real significance to the fabric of this story.” But Tinbu is quick to note that “despite that notable erasure, ‘One Day,’ succeeds.” Emma and Dex have “a lovely chemistry that teeters between deep intimacy and sexual tension.”
Time magazine says the series is “an irresistible, emotional roller coaster,” which “understands growing up as an adventure to be embraced, no matter where it leads, and renders each moment so immersively that Emma and Dexter become avatars for all of us.”
Who is Ambika Mod?
Mod grew up in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, England. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants; her mother arrived in the UK when she was a child and her father arrived in his twenties. She has a sister named Priya. There are no details of Mod’s private life or her relationship status.
The Daily Mail notes that the Mod sisters were “raised in an environment deeply influenced by their Indian roots, even as they navigated life in England.” She grew up “quite shy and introverted,” but enjoyed watching Bollywood movies, she admitted to the publication.
She attended Dame Alice Owen’s School and got a Bachelor of Arts in English Studies from St Mary’s College in Durham. It was there that she discovered her love for comedy and acting when she joined the sketch comedy group the Durham Revue. After graduating, she was “gigging and writing and doing all of these auditions for small parts and not really getting anywhere,” she said to Elle.
She also co-created the comedy duo “Megan from HR” with her comedy partner Andrew Shires. Speaking about those experiences, she told the Guardian that she and Shires took their shows to the Edinburgh fringe festivals. “But the endeavor felt like a massive fail because progress was so slow.” They began to garner attention from 2019, she said.
Now she is a regular performer at The Free Association, an improvised comedy theatre in London. Before her acting career took off, she worked as a personal assistant at Condé Nast, balancing her job with comedy performances at night.
Landing the role in “This is Going to Hurt,” the BBC adaptation of Adam Kay’s memoir changed her life. Filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, she played Shruti Acharya, a junior doctor. She won the 2023 Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
She described the miniseries as “a brutal look at the sisyphean pressures on NHS staff.” She told Elle she’s “glad that we didn’t shy away from the realities of what it is to be a junior doctor today, because it’s not fair on the people we’re representing. Obstetrics and gynaecology doctors have similar levels of PTSD to war veterans; it’s something that people don’t know or talk about.”