Mum snuck me into speech and drama classes and into the National Youth Theatre and said I was going on a summer camp if Dad asked.
— Adeel Akhtar
I'm someone who's quite anxious and stresses out a lot and gives the impression that I'm laid back.
'The Dictator' - well, that was just a comedy, and I suppose the morality was incidental. It was just something to try and make people laugh rather than being a serious thing.
I studied law, I got an alright degree, and then I was going to go and do something called an LPC, which is a Legal Practice Course, which qualifies you as a lawyer. But I didn't end up doing it, because I went to drama school instead.
Because of the Internet, we're all such authorities on every subject and can chat about all sorts of things. But when push comes to shove, when our ideas are put to the test, that's when we find out who we really are.
There has got to be a way for me to have a role on TV or in film that is just as normal as any other white actor. That's what I'm trying to get at.
I've done lots of stuff, but it's rare for people to come up to you and be happy about the fact that it's been put out there, that it's something a bit different, something creative.
I'll tell you who I really like - the lawyer Imran Khan. I did my dissertation on stop-and-search powers, and I put in loads of quotes from him. Years later, when I was selling insurance over in Harley Street, he rang up and asked for insurance. He told me his name, and I asked him if he was the lawyer, and he said yes.
When someone says 'Action,' you just get on with it and hope that that is translated onto the screen for other people to see. All you can ever do is work as hard as you can on it and make sure you're doing your job.
The stuff I like watching is the stuff that leaves you with a lot of questions when it's finished.
There has to be more opportunities for Asian or black actors.
With 'Utopia,' definitely it's more the idea of trying to put across a message rather than just entertaining the audience. It's entertaining as well, but there's also a lot of other things that are going on.
You always hope an audience will respond to something you've done, but there's no way of knowing whether or not they will.
There's part of me that would love to wear a ruffly collar and do a period drama, but that's not going to happen. You don't have Asians in those sorts of things.
