Waterloo Road: Samia actress Priyasasha Kumari talks breaking barriers
- Published
Priyasasha Kumari says her character Samia is "fierce and empowering"
About a year ago, Priyasasha Kumari was pulling 10-hour shifts at Aldi and working at a Post Office to make ends meet. Now she's on our screens in Waterloo Road.
Priyasasha had just finished a 10-hour supermarket shift when she got the call.
She'd won the role of Samia Chaudhary in acclaimed high school drama Waterloo Road.
Since the new series launched on BBC One last month, Priyasasha says we've seen Samia's "fierce, empowering" personality come out.
She says the Year 11 is "not afraid to speak her mind" - something Priyasasha thinks there's a lack of in South Asian parts.
But she feels her new role is a step in the right direction for South Asian representation on-screen.
'Voice of her own'
"I think in the beginning you can get stereotyped for particular roles and I think it's really great for us to break those barriers," Priyasasha told BBC Asian Network.
"A lot of the time South Asian characters are put into a pigeon hole.
"If she's a young girl, she's oppressed by her parents, she doesn't have much ambition and she can't do anything in life that she aspires to do".
"What Samia's character does is break all of those stereotypes. She has a voice of her own and leads the way for her fellow classmates."
Priyasasha's taken a central role in the BBC One drama
Priyasasha also says her character's steering away from old narratives often associated with South Asian culture.
She points out how Samia's "interracial relationship" with Preston Waters, played by Noah Valentine "wasn't made a 'thing'.
"It wasn't addressed. It was just as it was," says Priyasasha.
"Society today has changed and everyone is moving with the times," she says.
"Many young people can relate to that and relate to her and the situations she goes through".
'People like me on the telly'
Since starting the show she's received a lot of support, particularly from the Asian community.
"A lot of girls message me saying it's so amazing to see you on our screens, thank you so much for telling a story and representing us".
"When I grew up I didn't see anybody that was like me on the telly."
"It's quite taboo trying to talk about being a creative in an Asian family and I think if there's more representation….[it gives] families a chance to understand it and get behind and be supportive".
Priyasasha, pictured with castmates Noah Valentine, Alicia Forde and Adam Ali, encourages aspiring actors to never give up
Priyasasha, who graduated in 2016, says there was a "two-year gap" before she managed to break into the industry.
She auditioned for BBC soap Doctors in 2018 and juggled two jobs - Aldi and the Post Office - while trying to get more acting work.
"Sometimes I'd finish a ten-hour shift, and then I'd have to come home, learn my lines, do a self-tape, go to sleep and do it all over again," she says.
And it was after a long day at her full-time job that she got the good news about Waterloo Road.
"I found out like a ten-hour shift that I got the job so it was a crazy thing," she says.
Priyasasha, who's from Wolverhampton, now hopes to use her platform to continue telling more relatable stories "that represent us as young brown Asian girls".
And despite the uncertainties of the industry she's "excited for what's to come, because you never know what's going to happen".
"You're constantly living in the unknown," she says.
"There's like a thousand no's before you get that yes.
"You really have to believe in yourself."
Hear more from Priyasasha on Waterloo Road - The Official Podcast, available on BBC Sounds.
Follow Newsbeat on Twitter, external and YouTube, external.
Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.