Parminder Nagra Says She Was Already Turned Down For A TV Role Because The Show “Already Had An Indian Person” | Ents & Arts News

Actress Parminder Nagra said she was previously turned down for a TV role because the show “already had an Indian in the cast”.

The British star, who rose to fame in Bend It Like Beckham in 2002, before continuing to appear in the medical drama ER and other shows in the United States, said the same would never be said about a white person.

Nagra, 45, spoke about on-screen diversity in an interview with Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did? podcast, and said conversations around the issue can sometimes turn into a “ticked box.”

Discussing the role she was turned down for, the actress, who is from Leicester, said: “I remember asking to go up for a job because an actress left. It was a well-known TV show here.

“An actress quit her job because she fell out with the other actor.

“I remember phoning my agent and I said, ‘Do you think maybe you could suggest me?’ The character is very unspecific in terms of family and between 35 and 40 years old. “

Nagra said that “word that came back was that they already had an Indian on the cast.”

She continued, “I went, ‘Yeah, but I’m completely different from that person.’

“Is that going to happen when you say we already have a white person on the show? I don’t think this conversation is taking place.”

Nagra told the podcast that things have “changed” in terms of diversity in the television industry and highlighted the success of stars such as the Oscar nominee. Ahmed Rice and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.

However, she said, “I’ve been to rooms that people have been to, ‘it’s not going to sell because there are too many browns in it.”