Indian-origin actress Archie Panjabi was told not to pursue her dreams

LONDON - Indian origin British actress Archie Panjabi, who won an Emmy award in the best supporting actress category for her role in ‘The Good Wife’, has revealed that her relatives told her not to pursue her dreams as they were too “lowly”.

Panjabi, whose family immigrated to London from India before she was born, is among only a handful of Sikh performers ever to have won an Emmy.

But she has told how her strict family was less than supportive when she announced her aspiration to become an actress because many traditional Indian communities considered the profession “lowly”.

“We did have a few arguments because I wanted to go to drama school,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

“When I was younger a friend of mine’s mother said that this business was only for prostitutes. I thought, Oh my God, do I label myself as that?” she added.

But she added that her parents had ultimately agreed to support her ambition on the condition that she went to university first.

Her 2:1 in management studies from Brunel may not have contributed much to her meteoritic success as an actress, but her parents’ skepticism about show business appears to have helped keep her feet on the ground. (ANI)