My mum made a conscious decision not to teach me any Indian languages so I wouldn't talk with an accent.

I was always in trouble from an early age. I had a fraught relationship with my parents, who were very traditional. Doing plays at school was a joyous release.

It is not easy to get parts in mainstream films for most people of color. Hollywood and British writers are not writing parts for us, or the directors are not interested in casting us in parts that are color-blind.

In general, I try to avoid anything that I'm in. I've been that way for awhile. I don't know why. You have to watch, professionally, the things that you're required to watch, but it's not something that I would sit down and watch, again and again.

Los Angeles is the only place that I can honestly say I have ever called home.

If you don't take the chance to live life, what can you say at the end of it?

My mum made a conscious decision not to teach me any Indian languages so I wouldn't talk with an accent.