Amara Karan, star of All in Good Time - profile
The actress is also set to star alongside Simon Pegg in A Fantastic Fear of Everything
Born 29 March, 1984, London
Background Oxford-educated Karan spent two years working as an investment banker before plucking up the courage to pursue her interest in acting. Her audition tape was enough to impress revered director Wes Anderson, who gave Karan her movie break in 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited. After a few years of solid TV roles she is back on cinema screens in two very different films: the first is this month’s British comedy All in Good Time, from the writer of East is East, Ayub Khan-Din, the story of a newly-wed couple from Bradford unable to find space from their family, with Karan playing young wife Vina. And in June Karan stars alongside Simon Pegg in A Fantastic Fear of Everything, the directorial debut of former Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills.
On All in Good Time ‘I had seen the 2007 play and I also saw the 1960s film before we shot, so I had seen this character in various incarnations before, and it was really about asking how do I make this my own? What I love about Nigel Cole’s direction of the film is that the darkness and sadness is brought out more; in the stage play it’s kind of nicely wrapped up, happy and optimistic. But this film changes track, and you leave the cinema [with more to think about]; I really love that.’
On aspirations to write, like her co-star Meera Syal ‘I would love to write. I haven’t completed a screenplay yet, although I’ve started and aborted several ideas. Obviously the facility of writing doesn’t come as naturally to me as it does to Meera, but I hope one day to have a screenplay of my own.’
On A Fantastic Fear of Everything ‘[Crispian] writes beautifully, and he has made a very beautiful film. You should expect hand-made, hand-crafted beauty and dark humour.’
Interesting fact Karan cut her acting teeth in an Edinburgh Fringe show in 1999.
All in Good Time is on selected released from Fri 11 May.