The entertainment industry still feels like (and frankly, is) a place where white people call all the shots. Certainly, creatives of colour have put a spotlight on underrepresented voices under the mantle of the “representation matters” movement.
But with change remaining slow to come by, I find myself wondering if the creatives who cut their teeth in white Hollywood will be the ones to usher in the new era of equitable entertainment or whether it will take an outsider. Currently, it seems like neither holds the answer.
Speaking with South Asian Canadian actress, producer, and now podcaster Aliza Vellani, gave me some more insight into my question—and provided some hope.
A Second Generation
Unlike other Asian actors who broke barriers under the wing of old Hollywood elites (think Ke Huy Quan) or by trampolining their international acclaim into North American entertainment (like Priyanka Chopra Jonas), Vellani came into the fold as an outsider.
Zarqa Nawaz, creator of the 2007 record-breaking Canadian sitcom Little Mosque on a Prairie, gave Vellani her acting start on Little Mosque and still serves as a strong mentor figure for her. The show surprised audiences with its faithful and unabashed portrayal of Muslim life in North America, especially given how the war on terror skewed the public perception of Islamic identity.
As an Ismaili woman, Vellani reflected on how she could not fully appreciate the impact of the show when it was first released.
“It’s only now that I see just how much diversity and inclusion was part of that show, and how really Zarqa Nawaz and CBC had pioneered diversity of storytelling in Canada,” says Vellani.
Vellani spent many of her formative teenage years in production, seeing the blueprint of “representation” in action and getting a hint of what it tastes like.
Being on Little Mosque “set the stage for me at a very young age of what representation actually means and fighting for that [representation],” says the Canadian creative. “That has been a through-line in my career: being able to play so many characters from different walks of life and show that a South Asian woman can play those characters.”
Vellani is excited to be collaborating again with Nawaz on season two of ZARQA, a comedy centering on the life of a middle-aged Muslim divorcee.
The Tools for Change
Growing up on the set of Little Mosque taught Vellani how to both advocate for authentically diverse characters and represent complex themes relating to those characters’ experiences.
For example, through Vellani’s portrayal of Rani Singh in the post-apocalyptic adventure series Sweet Tooth, we saw a type of unconditional Brown love rarely shown on screen.
The connection between Rani and her husband Aditya does not fall solely upon a shared South Asian culture—an oversimplification often shown on television. Rather, the focus is upon shared values and interests, such as their bond over playing Scrabble.
Vellani’s performance showcases a relationship built upon equality and experiments with the typical gender roles we expect of South Asian couples.
“What I loved about it was this sense of friendship and teamwork and this sense of partnership,” says Vellani. “To show a couple that loves each other, sees each other as equals, and values one another is crucial for other South Asians to witness and see, because it’s not something that we actually see very often in South Asian storytelling right now.”
See more: Sari Arambulo on screenwriting, film and winning the Asian Women Fellowship
Pushing for the representation we want to see
Diversity on screen is the product of diversity behind the scenes – and when it comes to authentic representation of the characters she plays, Vellani is not afraid to use her voice.
On the set of Sweet Tooth, Vellani shares how she went to a producer to share an idea for how to communicate the cultural authenticity of a scene in relation to staying true to her character’s faith and beliefs. From there, the producer scheduled a meeting with the writers, cultural consultant and Vellani to discuss the scene and its cultural implications. This resulted in the show’s writers crafting a brand new scene to incorporate cultural elements in episode six of season two.
Vellani reflects that “it was amazing to feel that as a brown woman, my voice mattered when talking about playing a brown woman.” Vellani’s collaboration to further Rani’s character development models how Hollywood can value underrepresented voices.
A new arena
For Vellani, representation is baked into her career. With her start on a groundbreaking show, she has gone on to create spaces and spearhead projects that bring more and more Asian folks into the fold.
Vellani has taken up producing (something she wishes she did sooner). She aims to get behind a story that represents her own background as an South Asian Ismaili woman with East African roots.
Recently, Vellani dove into the world of podcasting. Jamshed Colah, Vellani’s husband and an avid cyclist, helped convince her to enter the space.
The podcast, entitled Super Domestique, centers on the cycling scene in British Columbia and tackles the historical lack of inclusivity among the sports’ athletes. Vellani describes the podcast as a marriage between their respective interests in cycling and entertainment.
As the multidisciplinary creative looks to other mediums to advocate for underrepresented folks, she recognizes that there will be generations after her who take up her mantle in bringing Muslim and Asian stories to light across the diaspora. Her advice to them? Make mistakes.
“I think, especially within the South Asian community, that pressure that we fall under (that model minority fear) of everything needing to be perfect, to work really hard, and to show that we are more than capable, sometimes that means that we fear making mistakes,” says Vellani. “Because that’s what I did. I was so terrified of making one wrong step.”
She believes that now that the previous generation of Muslim and Asian creatives have laid the groundwork, the aspiring ones can be imaginative, non-traditional, and incisive.
“I think the new generation of South Asian storytellers can really create some beautiful and magical stories. But they will have to take the first step and take that risk, and it will pay off.”
My conversation with Vellani shows me that the history of entertainment has indeed moved forward a step: artists from underrepresented backgrounds no longer have to be perfect all the time. We are able to fail, just like anyone else.
