Mandip Gill

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mandip Gill

• Mandip Gill is a British actress. She hit the spotlight after playing the role of Yasmin Khan in the 2018 sci-fi TV show ‘Doctor Who.’ She has worked in many TV shows and films.

• She grew up in the suburban area of Middleton in West Yorkshire during her childhood.

• Before getting into the TV and film industries, she started her acting career with theatre. She has appeared in many theatrical productions including ‘The Secret Life of John Cooper Clarke’ (2009), ‘Not In My Name’ (2010), ‘Britannia Waves the Rules’ (2015), and ‘Deepa the Saint’ (2016), ‘2:22 A Ghost Story’ (2022).

• At the age of 14, she moved with her family to a semi-rural village called Allerton Bywater.

• In 2016, she played the role of Charlie in the award-winning drama short film ‘Rwd/Fwd.’ In 2021, she acted in another short film, which was titled ‘On Air.’

• In 2017, she appeared as Padma Kholi in two episodes of the drama series ‘The Good Karma Hospital.’ In the same year, she was also cast in supporting roles in two drama series called ‘Casualty’ and ‘Love, Lies and Records.’

• She played the role of Yasmin Khan in BBC’s TV series ‘Doctor Who’ (2018-2022), which turned out to be a breakthrough role for her.

• In 2020, she worked in an interactive film titled ‘Five Dates’ in which she played the role of Shaina.

• In 2020, Netflix released a reality show called ‘Indian Matchmaking,’ which focused on arranged marriages. The show received criticism from many viewers who believed it promoted colourism and racism. Mandip was among those who criticized the show after watching it. She took to Twitter and wrote,
  

  #IndianMatchmaking stressed me out within the first 60 seconds. No lie. She said you’ll come to see her fair skin. I’m done!!! Get outta here with your flipping s**t show!” ^[4]Radio Times

• In 2022, she appeared in a supporting role as Sonia Chopra in Apple TV’s miniseries ‘Suspicion,’ which is an English version of the Israeli series ‘False Flag.’

  

• In an interview, Mandip shared that she had briefly considered becoming a police officer. However, she ultimately decided not to pursue her idea of becoming a police officer because she felt that she lacked the necessary skill set for the job.

• After actively auditioning for two years without success, she began to doubt herself and considered giving up on her career aspirations. However, in 2012, she finally landed her breakthrough role in the TV show ‘Hollyoaks,’ marking her first significant acting opportunity.

  

• Her go-to comfort foods are chips, pasta, and sandwiches. Whenever she visits her favourite restaurant ‘Wagamama,’ a British food chain that serves Asian cuisine, she always orders prawn firecrackers with extra sauce.

• In an interview, she talked about the different kinds of roles given to Asian artists and also mentioned that Asian actors were not being typecasted in English films anymore. She said,
  

  There are more parts that say ‘non-race specific’. Years ago, there was one Asian person in a soap and the entire Asian acting community was going for that role. Now, you can find a few different Asian people, and their character isn’t entirely based on their religion or culture: they just happen to be in a soap. But we’ve got a long way to go and I hope that, in time, I can audition for anything and just worry about being the best person for the job, not the right race.”

• During an interview, she discussed the types of roles she preferred in films and TV shows and shared her dream role. She said,
  

  When it comes to playing a character that’s not a Sikh, as I am, I always think, “Would I do this if the character was Sikh? Would I offend anyone in my family?” If the answer is no (to the latter), then I would always play the part. But there are still so many other roles that I would love to play, and hopefully, I’m in a position after ‘Doctor Who’ to be a bit choosier about which ones I do. I want to play Wonder Woman.”