Brit Pack Interviews
TEHMINA SUNNY
10/18/12
Name: Tehmina Sunny
Profession: Actress
Current Residence: Hollywood, Los Angeles
Previous Residence: London
Left UK in: 2007
Like a lot of kids Tehmina Sunny used to sit in her drama class wondering what she was doing there.
She left school with an A in the subject but decided to focus on the stable world of business and computer science instead. Her first job was as a Marketing Executive for Virgin.
But thanks to a perceptive talent agent Tehmina began to consider the possibility of a career in acting.
“He asked me if I wanted to try it and I thought he was just having a laugh,” she tells me from the kitchen of her Hollywood home. “A few weeks after that I landed a role in the film ‘Children of Men’ and I thought, wow, what is this acting stuff? After that I became very gung-ho about learning fast and taking classes and really wanted to understand what the process was.”
Her role in the Alfonso Cuaron movie, alongside Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, sparked an intense desire in Tehmina to master her new profession. After reading an article about Billy Piper’s LA-based acting coach Larry Moss she ended up travelling to LA to study at his studio. She’d fly back and forth to England for different projects but soon realized that LA was keeping her the busiest and eventually moved to California in 2007.
“It was the hardest decision because family and friends are the most important thing to me and I come from a tight family. It’s not just my parents and brother, it’s my uncles and aunts and grandparents and cousins. Every weekend I was always with different sections of the family. It was really tough to leave my loved ones and that security and come to a place where you’re on your own. But then you realize that LA is such a migrant place that everyone else is almost in the same boat and has the same struggle.”
Her English accent is fading and the American inflections are creeping in. But as an English actor perfecting the American twang is a necessary and valuable skill.
From doing the groundwork to get an agent and manager, to figuring out the credit trap, to having to re-take her driving test twice, Tehmina says she found the first two years of her transition the hardest. And the LA acting industry had her baffled for a while - especially the audition process.
“In England sometimes you’re the only one there and you have a great conversation with the casting director and they warm you up a little before you start doing your lines. Here, it’s very much like a cattle call. You go in and you don’t have much dialogue with the people you’re auditioning for. That kind of stuff can bring you down because you start thinking, ‘they don’t like me’ or ‘what did I do wrong?’ But it’s not you, it’s just how it works here. In England you’d get feedback about your audition, but here you don’t hear from them again.”
At first Tehmina didn’t know many other Brits to seek advice from so she became best friends with the internet and did hours of research to navigate her way through day-to-day expat issues. She decided to share that knowledge with others and produced and hosted a seminar to help British actors coming to LA at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts.
“I just wish that somebody had sat me down for an hour and told me how it all works,” she explains about why she created the ‘Actors Guide to LA’ seminar. “I realized there’s a huge market for people needing this knowledge. Things started happening here and I couldn’t commit to the seminars so I’ve started doing it on a one-to-one basis. I create a strategic plan for people and give them an idea about how to put themselves on the market. I’ve worked with British actors but also actors from Finland, Sweden, Italy and France."
Profession: Actress
Current Residence: Hollywood, Los Angeles
Previous Residence: London
Left UK in: 2007
Like a lot of kids Tehmina Sunny used to sit in her drama class wondering what she was doing there.
She left school with an A in the subject but decided to focus on the stable world of business and computer science instead. Her first job was as a Marketing Executive for Virgin.
But thanks to a perceptive talent agent Tehmina began to consider the possibility of a career in acting.
“He asked me if I wanted to try it and I thought he was just having a laugh,” she tells me from the kitchen of her Hollywood home. “A few weeks after that I landed a role in the film ‘Children of Men’ and I thought, wow, what is this acting stuff? After that I became very gung-ho about learning fast and taking classes and really wanted to understand what the process was.”
Her role in the Alfonso Cuaron movie, alongside Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, sparked an intense desire in Tehmina to master her new profession. After reading an article about Billy Piper’s LA-based acting coach Larry Moss she ended up travelling to LA to study at his studio. She’d fly back and forth to England for different projects but soon realized that LA was keeping her the busiest and eventually moved to California in 2007.
“It was the hardest decision because family and friends are the most important thing to me and I come from a tight family. It’s not just my parents and brother, it’s my uncles and aunts and grandparents and cousins. Every weekend I was always with different sections of the family. It was really tough to leave my loved ones and that security and come to a place where you’re on your own. But then you realize that LA is such a migrant place that everyone else is almost in the same boat and has the same struggle.”
Her English accent is fading and the American inflections are creeping in. But as an English actor perfecting the American twang is a necessary and valuable skill.
From doing the groundwork to get an agent and manager, to figuring out the credit trap, to having to re-take her driving test twice, Tehmina says she found the first two years of her transition the hardest. And the LA acting industry had her baffled for a while - especially the audition process.
“In England sometimes you’re the only one there and you have a great conversation with the casting director and they warm you up a little before you start doing your lines. Here, it’s very much like a cattle call. You go in and you don’t have much dialogue with the people you’re auditioning for. That kind of stuff can bring you down because you start thinking, ‘they don’t like me’ or ‘what did I do wrong?’ But it’s not you, it’s just how it works here. In England you’d get feedback about your audition, but here you don’t hear from them again.”
At first Tehmina didn’t know many other Brits to seek advice from so she became best friends with the internet and did hours of research to navigate her way through day-to-day expat issues. She decided to share that knowledge with others and produced and hosted a seminar to help British actors coming to LA at the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts.
“I just wish that somebody had sat me down for an hour and told me how it all works,” she explains about why she created the ‘Actors Guide to LA’ seminar. “I realized there’s a huge market for people needing this knowledge. Things started happening here and I couldn’t commit to the seminars so I’ve started doing it on a one-to-one basis. I create a strategic plan for people and give them an idea about how to put themselves on the market. I’ve worked with British actors but also actors from Finland, Sweden, Italy and France."
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Her own strategy seems to be paying off. The self-confessed workaholic has acquired a steady flow of work over the last year including appearing in the movie ‘Argo’ starring Ben Affleck, which was released last week and in Roland Joffe's epic adventure ‘Singularity’ which hits theaters next year. She’s also working with comedy writers to create sketches for a CBS showcase and has recently started working on a Sony video game which involves motion caption sword fighting.
The last gig fits right in with her character. As a kid she chose martial arts over ballet classes and has won medals for fighting in Taekwondo and Sankukai karate. But when she’s not training for an acting role Tehmina chooses more peaceful ways to relax, like tuning everything out with a yoga session or teaching herself to play the piano. |
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And taking a trip back to the UK always helps her keep grounded. She admits to being a little homesick as it’s been a year since she sampled some home-made Indian food. It’s not the easiest thing to find in Hollywood.
As she sips her cup of Earl Grey tea she reflects back on her school days and is now grateful for the way her teachers in Milton Keynes pushed the arts.
It's likely their emphasis on dramatics and music planted a seed in Tehmina that’s beginning to bear fruit. After five years in LA her impressive and varied resume is a testament to her determination in an industry that can be pretty aggressive.
“I’ve definitely become stronger, wiser and more patient,” she reflects. “I always think it’s the journey that’s the most important thing because that builds character and reveals different things about yourself. I’ve learnt to have faith in myself because it’s very easy to live in that place of frustration and negativity all the time. I’m just incredibly grateful for how I got here and that I didn’t give up.”
Check out Tehmina’s website: www.tehminasunny.com or follow her on Twitter @tehminasunny
As she sips her cup of Earl Grey tea she reflects back on her school days and is now grateful for the way her teachers in Milton Keynes pushed the arts.
It's likely their emphasis on dramatics and music planted a seed in Tehmina that’s beginning to bear fruit. After five years in LA her impressive and varied resume is a testament to her determination in an industry that can be pretty aggressive.
“I’ve definitely become stronger, wiser and more patient,” she reflects. “I always think it’s the journey that’s the most important thing because that builds character and reveals different things about yourself. I’ve learnt to have faith in myself because it’s very easy to live in that place of frustration and negativity all the time. I’m just incredibly grateful for how I got here and that I didn’t give up.”
Check out Tehmina’s website: www.tehminasunny.com or follow her on Twitter @tehminasunny
