"As a brown woman, you’re held to a higher standard."
Ambika Mod has opened up about the online backlash that followed her breakout performance in One Day, saying it exposed how difficult it is to be a brown woman in British television.
The actress revealed that the trolling she faced after the Netflix hit made her question whether fame was worth the emotional cost.
Speaking to PORTER, the 30-year-old star shared how her experience with sudden global attention took a toll on her mental health.
“After One Day, I had a terrible experience online. Someday I’d love to get rid of it altogether,” she said.
“It’s just not healthy to absorb everyone’s opinions about you.”
Despite One Day becoming the most-watched Netflix series worldwide the week it debuted, Mod faced harsh criticism over her portrayal of Emma Morley, a role previously played by Anne Hathaway.
The constant social media negativity, she admitted, wore her down.
Even as critics praised her nuanced performance, the online abuse became impossible to ignore.
The backlash, she believes, also revealed how women of colour in the British industry are often held to stricter standards.
“As a brown woman, you’re held to a higher standard. There’s less room to make mistakes,” she explained.
“It can feel like you get just one shot and if it goes wrong, that’s it.”
Mod has previously spoken about the contrasting treatment she and her co-star Leo Woodall received after the show’s success.
While Woodall quickly secured major film roles, she noticed a significant disparity in how they were perceived.
“We just don’t get treated the same at all,” she told The Sunday Times.
“If you’re brown, if you’re a woman, if you don’t have any connections, you do just have to work ten times harder to get half as far.”
Still, Ambika Mod recognises that her casting as Emma was a step forward for representation.
“Just the fact that I’m not white and I’m getting to play Emma, that wouldn’t have happened ten years ago. That in itself is a way to modernise the story,” she said.
Her portrayal was widely celebrated, with The Guardian describing her as a “revelation” and finding it “hard to believe this is her first lead role.”
Following the acclaim, Mod is now turning her focus to theatre with Porn Play, a daring new production at London’s Royal Court Theatre.
The play follows a female academic addicted to pornography and explores taboos rarely addressed on stage.
“It’s a completely different challenge,” she said, adding that theatre feels like a return to creative freedom.
“As time goes on, especially now I’m doing more theatre, I’m ready to leave Emma behind.”
The This Is Going to Hurt star continues to push boundaries both on screen and on stage.
In 2025, she also appeared in the action films Black Bag and Sacrifice, along with the Disney+ thriller The Stolen Girl, in which she played a journalist investigating a missing person case.
Ambika Mod’s journey from television to theatre highlights both her artistic growth and her quiet determination to reshape what British storytelling looks like.
As she moves forward, she remains a powerful reminder of the resilience it takes to be a brown woman thriving in an industry still catching up to her talent.
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