Martina Laird is a wonderful woman.
Firstly, she is a highly accomplished actress, and has become a familiar face to the British public having worked on both stage and television. Secondly, the actress is part of a new initiative fronted by Lenny Henry to get more actors and actresses from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in a broader range of roles.
So when the opportunity arose to sit down with her to discuss those topics and her new play, The House That Will Not Stand, we were extremely excited.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Black Ballad: How did you get into acting?
Martina Laird: I grew up in Trinidad as an only child, so my parents were looking for something for me to do on the weekend so that I could meet other kids, since I was quite shy. So that’s where it absolutely began. I loved it so much and it continued from that. I did bits and bobs while at school in Trinidad, but it wasn’t really until I came to this country and started university that I realised how passionate I was about acting. I was also introduced to the idea that one could be an actor because you don’t ‘be’ an actor in Trinidad. You have another profession and you do your acting outside of that and the whole stagecraft in Trinidad is designed around allowing for people to have day jobs. So coming here and realising that acting could be a day job was a great thing.