Ambika Mod says ‘One Day’ backlash proved how hard it is to be a brown woman on British TV

Highlights:

• Ambika Mod says she’d love to delete all her social media
• Faced online abuse after Netflix’s One Day
  
• Says being a brown woman in acting means “less room to mess up”
• Moving from screen to stage in bold new Royal Court play

Ambika Mod has revealed the intense social media backlash that followed her star-making turn in Netflix’s One Day. The actress, who shared the screen with Leo Woodall in the much-talked-about Netflix series, said the wave of online abuse made her stop and think about what fame really costs and whether she wants to stay in that spotlight.

Ambika Mod reflects on fame and race in a new interview after One Day success Getty Images

Why Ambika Mod wants to leave social media

The 30-year-old actress told PORTER that she no longer finds online life healthy. “After One Day, I had a terrible experience online. Someday I’d love to get rid of it altogether,” she said. “It’s just not healthy to absorb everyone’s opinions about you.”

Her comments come after months of targeted trolling over her role as Emma Morley, a character previously played by Anne Hathaway in the 2011 film adaptation of David Nicholls’ novel. Even with One Day winning praise worldwide, she admitted the constant negativity on social media wore her down.

Ambika Mod says social media abuse made her rethink her career and mental healthGetty Images

From One Day to the Royal Court

Mod is now moving on from the series that made her a household name. She’s set to star in Porn Play, a bold new production at London’s Royal Court Theatre. The story follows a female academic addicted to pornography and explores themes rarely addressed on stage.

“It’s a completely different challenge,” she said, hinting that theatre feels like a return to creative freedom. “As time goes on, especially now I’m doing more theatre, I’m ready to leave Emma behind.”

On being a brown woman in film and TV

The This Is Going to Hurt star also reflected on what it means to be a woman of colour in the British industry. “As a brown woman, you’re held to a higher standard. There’s less room to make mistakes,” she said. “There’s hardly any space to slip up,” she said quietly. “It can feel like you get just one shot and if it goes wrong, that’s it.”

She’s talked before about how different the playing field feels next to her white colleagues. After One Day, her co-star Leo Woodall quickly landed a major film role, while Mod said the treatment she received was markedly different. “We just don’t get treated the same at all,” she told The Sunday Times.

Ambika Mod prepares for her next chapter on stage with Porn Play after global fame from One DayGetty Images

“Ten times harder to get half as far”

Mod said it’s not personal, just the system. “If you’re brown, if you’re a woman, if you don’t have any connections, you do just have to work ten times harder to get half as far.”

Still, she sees progress. Reflecting on One Day, she said she doubts she would’ve been cast a decade ago. “Just the fact that I’m not white and I’m getting to play Emma, that wouldn’t have happened ten years ago. That in itself is a way to modernise the story.”

She’s moving on, but you can tell, she’s not done changing what British TV looks like.