The Beatles kind of pervade everything. They're always kind of part of everyone's lives.
— Himesh Patel
For the last few years, I've enjoyed writing my own stuff since studying creative writing at school, and as I've grown up, I've realised how much I enjoy escaping into a world that I've created myself. So I've kept that up as a hobby.
I went to America for the first time with my mum when I was 7, and I loved it. I remember wanting to see the Hollywood sign, and then, there I was, shooting a scene right by it for 'Yesterday.'
In my essay for 'The Good Immigrant,' I write about how concerns about race and immigration crept up on me a bit because of how I grew up and my background - I was quite fortunate, really; I never got the rough end of the stick with a lot of that kind of stuff.
What we had on was BBC Asian Network and Bollywood sound-tracks - they were my reference points. But of course, where I grew up, I was one of two Indian guys in my school, and I didn't really have anyone else to share that with.
My mom's favorite song ever is 'Imagine' because it came out around when she arrived in England.
'Blackbird' is a really beautiful song, and I actually recently started trying to learn it, and it's beautiful.
I think that you've got to do things that you're not particularly comfortable with sometimes, and that's what you get the most respect for.
I think sometimes you can think up a story, but it's because you're comfortable doing that, but when you're an actor, one of the things that you have to do is take yourself out of your comfort zone.
When I was on 'EastEnders,' I still had a paper route until I was 21 and left home.
I think an office is just a microcosm of life and the different kinds of people that you will come across and interactions there, and I think if you all sit in a room together, then it gets a bit more intense and fun for people to watch, maybe.
I was sometimes a bit lonely as a teenager. There was a cultural disconnect.
When it comes to period stuff, I think it's great to see South-Asian actors get their foot in the door there, because it's nice to tell period stories and tell it in a way that reflects the world now.
Sometimes on a soap, it can become about all this other stuff - the party circuit, reality shows - but I gravitated towards people who kept it all about the work.
I keep a notebook of ideas, and sometimes ideas form in your head that you just have to write down, or you'll forget them.
When my dad visited me while I was doing a play in New York City two years ago, I took him to see 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert.' Now I'm going to his house. It's surreal.
I personally am going to look for stuff that interests me and either has very little to do or has the right thing to do with my ethnicity.
One thing that I struggled with was not corpsing when you're being thrown stuff that's absolutely hilarious by the other actors.
Where do I fit in? That's something I think about as an actor, especially as an actor from a minority community.
I'm probably one of the few people who can say that I've played an empty Wembley Stadium.
When I was 14, I bought myself a cheap electric guitar and tried to teach myself.
