Ambika Mod, the actor behind Emma in the Netflix show One Day, reportedly declined several invitations to audition for the role.
The popular series is based on David Nicholls’ 2009 bestselling romance novel of the same name. While the project attracted Mod, she felt her abilities weren’t suited to such a role.
“I just didn’t see myself as Emma,” she told Variety in a new interview. “I just thought it would be a waste of everyone’s time if I taped for this.”
Emma Morley, an intelligent young woman from Yorkshire, is the central character in One Day alongside the more extroverted and self-assured Dexter Mayhew. The narrative follows their journey across 14 years, revisiting them on the same date each year.
The couple’s relationship evolves from tentative beginnings at university in the late 1980s through various highs and lows in the 1990s and wraps up in the early 2000s.
Mod, fortunately, responded to the audition invite at the last minute after a sudden change of heart. “Literally one night I was lying in bed, my eyes snapped open, and I was like, ‘I’ve made a terrible mistake,'” she said.
Two years later, Mod and her co-star, Leo Woodall of The White Lotus, have hit the screen as the leading couple of One Day. The show debuted in February and has shown impressive streaming figures.
Mod continued to reveal that the eight-month filming process was “by far and away the hardest thing I’ve ever done” because of the duration and volume of dialogue. “It was very relentless, but a real learning curve.”
“I sort of feel like, now I’ve done One Day, I can do anything, although I don’t want to jinx it. But I’m finding my feet for sure,” she added.
Watch the trailer for One Day below.
