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Who Is Ambika Mod? Know More About The One Day Actress As She Addresses Criticism Towards Her Role
Ambika Mod has criticized double standards surrounding her performance as Emma in One Day. Despite the show's popularity, Mod has faced a lot of backlash & recently revealed its impact on her.
Ambika Mod has criticized the "double standards" surrounding her performance as Emma in One Day, a popular Netflix series based on the best-selling David Nicholls novel. Despite the popularity of Emma and Dexter, there has been a significant discrepancy in the critical response to her performance compared to Dexter and Leo Woodall's. Mod has now opened up about the impact of the backlash on her performance and how it has affected her.
Ambika Mod addresses the criticism towards her role in One Day
During an interview with Glamour, Ambika Mod discusses the negativity towards both her and her character Emma in One Day. She said, "This is something that I've been thinking about a lot in the last few weeks, because I've not just seen it in terms of Emma and Dexter. The romance genre can be a double-edged sword. For a long time, it has not been a genre that's been respected because it’s mainly for women."
Mod then explained, "It always seems to be the male characters and the male protagonists and the male actors who are elevated from having done a rom-com, and it's the female characters who don't get that same recognition, who don't get that same elevation. It's a really twisted double standard that shouldn't be the case."
She further added, "It was never a doubt in my mind that people would fall in love with Dexter, and that they would fall in love with Leo. But as a woman, as a woman of colour, playing this character, I had a lot more to prove and I've garnered a lot more criticism than he has."
In terms of how Emma gets judged for having an affair in the show but Dexter doesn't get judged as harshly, the actress said, "It’s the double standard…. Like, Dexter did much worse shit than Emma does. We don't see him apologizing! Like, he's done terrible stuff. We don't really ever see him apologizing or reckoning with that, and no one expects that of him."
She ended by saying, "I imagine it's the same people who were saying Emma should apologise, who’ve also been like, 'I love Dexter. I love him so much.' Again, it’s this double standard just seeping in everywhere."
Exploring Ambika Mod's early life and career
Ambika Bhakti Mod is a British actress, comedian and writer. She is best known for her roles as Shruti Acharya in the BBC drama series This Is Going to Hurt (2022) and Emma Morley in the Netflix miniseries One Day (2024).
Mod grew up in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants; her mother arrived in the UK as a child, and her father arrived in his 20s. She attended Dame Alice Owen's School. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Studies from St Mary's College, Durham.
Mod studied acting at Theatrix Performing Arts of St Albans, based at the Abbey Theatre, St Albans. At Durham University, she performed sketch comedy through the university's Revue troupe, appearing with Tom Harper at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and serving as the troupe's president in 2017. She also performs improvisational comedy at The Free Association in London. Additionally, she formed a duo called Megan from HR with Andrew Shires. She continues to perform regularly at the improvisational comedy theater The Free Association in London.
Following a series of short films, including Fair Bnb, Granddaughter, The Sacrifice (aka Leila Margot), and Pet Name, in 2022 Mod appeared as a struggling junior doctor in Adam Kay’s medical comedy-drama This Is Going to Hurt. The series, based on Kay's memoir of the same name, depicts the experiences of doctors working in gynecology and obstetrics. It co-stars Ben Whishaw and earned critical acclaim after its release. For her performance, Mod received the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress.
In 2024, Mod starred as Emma Morley opposite Leo Woodall in Netflix's One Day, based on David Nicholls' novel of the same name. The story follows two people who meet for a platonic one-night stand and then reunite one day each year over the next 20 years. Mod initially turned down the part, citing the intense nature of her recent role in This Is Going to Hurt and doubts about playing a romantic lead. Reflecting later on her decision, she said, "I think part of the reason why I just didn’t see myself playing that part was because insidiously and implicitly, that’s a message that I’ve been fed my entire life—that people who look like me aren’t seen as romantic leads, that people who look like me aren’t the people who the male romantic lead will fall in love with."
ALSO READ: One Day Season 2: Will There Be a Sequel to Netflix Series? All We Know So Far
