Being a black drama student: 'The fear of stereotyping is crippling'

I was the only black girl in my year when I started at Lamda (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). There were only nine girls out of about 30 students. Now it’s changing; now it’s about half and half. It’s an effort that Lamda is making, which is really lovely to see. I remember feeling very much like I was the only one like me there.

I stick out like a sore thumb. I always found I was acting in plays by white people for white people, and having to find my place in that world when I felt I didn’t belong there. I always had this fear in the back of my head that the audience would think: “They can’t be related.” I often got the part of someone who wasn’t connected to anyone else, in terms of family. So I hardly got to explore that part of relationships – sisters and mothers and stuff – which put me down a little bit.

It’s the little tiny things that can really get to you, like hair. Drama school is such a bubble: all the girls are straightening their hair, but your hair’s different from everyone else. When you’re doing a show, everyonegets their hair done in different styles but mine was an afro, so they’d just put a band on it, or leave it. That’s the kind of thing that really can get to you – feeling like the industry isn’t quite aware of you yet.

The fear of being stereotyped is crippling. It really is crippling. It can affect how you carry yourself throughout the day; how you carry yourself when you meet people after shows. It affects you in terms of confidence, and not knowing how people are going to receive you. If you meet a casting director, it’s rare that they will be looking for someone like you for a role that’s going to be really defining for your career. I changed a lot during drama school: I grew up a lot and became my own person. But I’m always going to be that girl from east London.

In third year I felt quite nervous about the future – as any student would – but also knowing that I’m black. I worried about what roles I’d get, what kind of world I’d be’d entering, and how people would receive me. There wasn’t really anyone else to talk to because no one else was in my position.

I slowly realised that I was actually in a very good position, because there were so few people like me in drama schools. The world is slowly changing: theatre and TV are trying to incorporate more people from different ethnic backgrounds, so now is actually quite a good time to be here. In a way, it could act to my advantage.

When I was growing up, the only role model I can remember having was Halle Berry. People would always say: ‘You’re the next Halle Berry’. And I thought: ‘OK, but surely there’s more?’ I went to dance school when I was 11. We did musicals and I did a film when I was 14, called Dustbin Baby, which was incredible. I did a lot of stuff – singing, dancing, acting – and I think, subconsciously, I did it because I knew I’d need a lot of skills to get to where I wanted to be.

I’ve been really lucky. I got an agent quite early on in my final year and I’m doing the Shakespeare Trilogy now, with an amazing diverse cast. But I know, and I’m very aware, that not everyone gets that.

I know that Lamda and other drama schools are trying to reach out to black and ethnic minority students. They want to make them aware that they can come to drama school if they want to. It’s going to be a slow change, but I’m very hopeful. It’s hard, but we’ve got to do it.

I’d like to think I’m quite versatile. I can play a girl from Peckham who’s involved in gangs – that’s the stereotype of someone who looks like me. Then again, I could also play a doctor from a wealthy background. I’m trying to tell myself that whatever comes along, I can do it, even if the part is described as a white girl with blue eyes and blonde hair. It takes a lot of courage to tell yourself that, but you have to just do it and try.

It’s a daunting experience. But I would encourage anyone who is like me – boys and girls – to know that they have an advantage, as long as they work hard. If you’re black or ethnic minority, my parents and many of my friend’s parents say you have to work twice or three times as hard to get to the same place as your peers. But don’t be too downhearted. The world is changing and we are part of that change. Every graduating year is part of it.

Leah graduated from Lamda in July 2016. She is currently performing in the Donmar Shakespeare Trilogy, which runs in London until the 17th of December and will be taking The Tempest to New York in January.

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