Ambika Mod Highlights Double Standard When Comparing Her Career To One Day Co-Star Leo Woodall's
Ambika Mod is reflecting on how she and her One Day co-star Leo Woodall have been treated differently within the acting industry since the show’s debut.
The two stars played Emma and Dexter in Netflix’s TV adaptation of the classic David Nicholls novel One Day last year.
Since then, Leo, who had already played a supporting role in the second season of The White Lotus when One Day premiered, has starred opposite Renée Zellweger in the fourth Bridget Jones movie, took the lead in Apple TV+’s action series Citadel and currently has three film roles in the works.
Speaking to GQ, Ambika said she feels she’s had less opportunities come her way despite them having equal billing in the hit Netflix series, pointing out that she and Leo “just don’t get treated the same at all”.
“It’s mad because we wouldn’t be going for the same roles at all, and we’re very different people,” she said. “I think we’re going to have very different careers.”
Ambika continued: “If I compare myself to someone like Leo, I’m always going to come up short, because there’s a privilege there that I don’t have access to.”
She lamented: “Being brown is not particularly easy in this industry. You don’t get the same opportunities. You don’t get the same ascension.
“I’ve been the lead of two very successful, critically-acclaimed TV shows [One Day and the medical drama This Is Going To Hurt, which aired two years earlier] and I still feel like I have to keep on proving myself. A lot of my white peers don’t really have to tackle that.”
Ambika also acknowledged that “at the same time, I’m so lucky to be here”, describing her situation as a “double-edged sword”, and expressing her hopes that “my being here makes it easier for a girl 10 or 20 years younger than me”.
In January, Ambika made her big-screen debut in Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag.
She’ll next be seen in Sacrifice, a new action adventure featuring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Evans, Salma Hayek and Charli XCX.
Ambika also appeared in the miniseries The Stolen Girl, which premiered last month and included stars like Holliday Grainger and Jim Burgess, who played Dexter in the original film adaptation of One Day.