(April 25, 2023) Till early 2021, Priya Kansara was still working in healthcare communications for a pharmaceutical company, while nursing her childhood dream of becoming an actress someday on the side. The youngster became an overnight star after she appeared in season two of the period drama Bridgerton for Netflix as Miss Eaton. Her critically-acclaimed in the period drama was followed by another great performance in Netflix’s The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. And quite recently, the young actress gave another stellar performance in the recently released British action-comedy film Polite Society from Nida Manzoor.
Referred to as the “Stars of Tomorrow” by Screen International, the British actress portrayed the part of a stunt woman in training and London schoolgirl Ria Khan, as she attempts to kidnap her older sister from her own wedding in Polite Society. “Ria is a character I would have waited for my entire career to play — it felt like she already resided in me,” the actress said in an interview, adding, “There were moments when I was playing Ria where I thought, ‘I wish I saw this growing up’.”
Chasing her dreams
As a young girl, Priya would quite often find herself staring at the TV at her home, mesmerised by the actors and actresses on screen. In fact, her passion for acting and dancing was ignited by watching Bollywood films with her mum. She started working on numerous commercials, television series, and independent films, however, despite her talent she wasn’t able to score a substantial role.
Priya played the part of Miss Eaton, in Netflix’s period drama, Bridgerton
Soon after earning a bachelor’s in science from the University College London, the youngster took up a job in the healthcare communications department of a global pharmaceutical company. Not losing faith in her dreams, Priya started attending night classes at the Identity School of Acting in London, which she continued for three years. It was quite a challenging period for the actress, who shared during various interviews that “keeping on track despite the failures” took a lot of strength. “It was nerve-wracking jumping into a career that you don’t know is going to work in your favour, but it was never a choice, it was just about timing. Acting is all I ever wanted to do,” the Global Indian said.
A scene from movie Polite Society
Encouraged by her friends and family the actress left her job in March 2021 and made it straight to an audition being held for season two of Bridgerton. While she didn’t have much hope, the actress stepped out of the audition venue after bagging an important role in the series about a few hours later. “People would say, ‘Maybe one day you’ll do something like Bridgerton.’ I felt very lucky for that to be the start,” said the actress.
A stellar journey
Though it was a small role, it was an impactful one – and having got the part after such a long wait, Priya put all her efforts into ensuring that her performance spoke volumes about her talent. And of course, it did. The young actress landed the role of Flo in Netflix’s The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. The show got a positive review on the OTT platform, and again Priya was the talk of the town for her amazing performance. And that was the turning point for Priya.
The actress who was, till now, only getting character roles in various shows and movies, got a call one morning from the writer and director Nida Manzoor, who was quite impressed by her previous performances and insisted on casting Priya in her upcoming project. That afternoon, the actress found herself in Nida’s office where the two discussed the story and script of Polite Society. After a formal audition, the actress ended up securing the lead role of Ria, a teenage girl with aspirations to be a stuntwoman, who embarks on a heist to try to stop her sister from getting married.
“It felt like she (Ria) already resided in me,” the actress said during the premier of the movie, which was held at the Sundance Film Festival. Praising her performance, several media houses described her as a “delightful newcomer”. In fact, Nida referred to Priya as “the next Tom Cruise”, as she chose to do so many of her own stunts.
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Currently basking in the Los Angeles sun, the young actress is working through the many scripts being sent her way. “I would love to do things that are versatile and interesting and fresh, and grow as an actor,” she exclaimed when asked about her future plans.
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