Dev Patel sometimes feels “suck in [a] cultural no-man’s land”.
Dev Patel
The ‘Green Knight’ actor admitted he’s faced questioning over the years for the roles he’s landed because he’s a British Asian man, such as when he “basically played Charles Dickens” in 'David Copperfield' or for the various Indian characters he’s portrayed, and he admitted it makes him question what people would deem acceptable for him to do.
He said: “You’re kind of like, Where am I allowed to exist? How specific are we going to get with this? What does it mean to be an actor – to just be yourself? Am I only allowed to play a guy who’s 31 years old? Are you going to check my blood type?
“The very essence of acting, it asks for you to perform, transform, change, that’s the allure of the job… And sometimes I feel stuck in this cultural no-man’s land. I’m not British enough to be fully British, not Indian enough to be fully Indian.”
The ‘Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ actor received his big break when he took the lead in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ when he was just 18 and Dev admitted he then struggled to find work afterwards because of his heritage.
He told Observer magazine: “[I often had to] wait for an Indian role to come by, where I could put on a thick accent. There wasn’t anything else, it was literally the clichés: goofy sidekick, taxi driver.
“I was dating my co-star at the time, Freida [Pinto], and she went on to do all of these amazing things. But in a way, she, too, was being type-cast, as this exotic beauty next to all these Caucasian leading men.”
But the 31-year-old star thinks the movie industry is changing for the better.
Asked if it’s doing enough for actors of colour, he said: “You know, it’s moving in the right direction. My mate Daniel Kaluuya just won an Oscar!
“And there are so many beautiful films in the mix now.
“We’re getting more nourished as a society for it.”
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