Tahirah Sharif has been making waves in the acting world, and things are only set to get bigger and better for the London-born actress, who will take over your television screens in Sky Max's new crime thriller, A Town Called Malice.
The 29-year-old, who honed her acting chops at the famous performing arts institution The BRIT School before training at London's Identity School of Acting, has been paying her dues and working steadily in the entertainment business for years. Starring in the likes of BBC's Casualty and Waterloo Road, she has also worked alongside the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones and Jessie Buckley, to name a few, in film projects while also taking to the stage in theatre productions of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl and Arabian Nights. Seriously impressive! But Tahirah eventually came into global public recognition with a starring role in Netflix's hugely popular anthology series The Haunting of Bly Manor, which was created by Mike Flanagan and also starred well-known names such as Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen.
The series was well received, and now Tahirah shows no signs of stopping with Sky's new impossibly cool and stylish series, A Town Called Malice. The 80s British crime drama, which was described in its official synopsis as "if Dallas made love to Pulp Fiction to the sounds of Duran Duran", follows the journey of the South London crime family, the Lords, who are devastated after they fall to the bottom of the criminal food chain. In hopes of re-capturing their former glory, they move to Spain but face some enormous challenges along the way. Tahirah takes on the role of Cindy Carter, the girlfriend of the family's son Gene Lord, and while she admits the character doesn't make the best life decisions, it was still an honour to play her.
Here Tahirah chats to GLAMOUR about how she overcame feeling underconfident about taking on Cindy and how playing the role gave her hope for the landscape of diverse characters in her future acting career.
A massive congratulations on A Town Called Malice! What was it about Cindy Carter that spoke to you when you read the script?
What struck me right away was that characters like this don't come around that often. She was so layered and complicated, just like a real human being. It's not that groundbreaking, but unfortunately, in television, you just don't get the luxury... Well, I don't get the luxury a lot of the time of auditioning for characters like this. So I remember saying to Nick Love, who created this entire world, "You've obviously written the entire script and all of the characters. But especially for me, for Cindy, you've just put together such a well-written and well-crafted f***ing amazing female character." And that's just what screamed off the page for me.
How do you think Cindy's character arc helps drive the story forward?
I think, initially, it's on the surface. She is somebody who is looking for something that she's missing and that she doesn't have in her life. And that is trust, loyalty, family, belonging, and love, and she finds that in Jean. Obviously, Cindy's intentions are questionable, as people will find out as the storyline progresses, but that's on the page, and that's what I played. And ultimately, her feelings for Jean are genuine.
Some of Cindy's decisions are questionable. I mean, we probably wouldn't make those same decisions! But she must have some thick skin and strength to make these certain choices. Where does she get that from?
Do you know the weird thing is I remember reading early drafts of our script and thinking on paper she had a much thicker skin. And I remember reading it and thinking, "This doesn't feel like a real human being. This feels a little bit like a caricature." And thankfully, Jamie Donoghue, who's the lead director, and Nick Love, who created it, were really collaborative. And so we had these conversations about her questionable decisions and the awful things she does, but they have to have a toll on her. She has to be somebody and a character that people can empathise with. So I really wanted that to come across. And even though she makes certain decisions, actually, a lot of the time, things aren't entirely within her control. Ultimately, I think Cindy, even though she's a flawed person, she's been damaged by experiences that have happened in her past. And I think in her head, she has to believe she's doing the right thing, otherwise, she wouldn't do them.
And how was it for you to take on the responsibility of such an intense, complicated character?
I mean, I was quite underconfident actually when I first started because I just thought maybe someone was going to come up to me at some stage and fire me. It was major imposter syndrome because of the way Nick had written her on the pages, every other sentence was like, "Cindy walks in, she's fire." I was like, "I don't think I'm fire." I was scared and underconfident! As an actor, whenever a woman is described as fire or sexy, I'm always like, “Cringe, the opposite of me!” The thing is, I think with Cindy, once I dialled into who she really was, and not just a character on paper, she was a real human being. And I started to construct who she was and what made her tick, and why she was the way she was. And once I was relaxed into the role and became more confident, it was just really incredible. I love nearly every job I've ever done, but this role is the most fulfilling one I've ever played in my entire career. And I am just so, first of all, thankful to myself for getting myself into a position to be able to play this role. And then also grateful to the team who gave me this opportunity.
How would you say A Town Called Malice is different from other shows in the current television landscape?
I'm an actor, so I love film and television, and I consume a lot of it. And I can honestly say I've never even read anything like this when I first received the script coming out of the UK especially. So for me, yes, it's set in the 80s, and it's a kind of crime thriller, but it's also so much more than that. It's flamboyant, and it's loud, and it's heavily music-driven. It's so highly stylised. There are really surreal moments in it, but at the same time, it's so grounded in reality, and real life and real family dynamics and relationships, and it also has a lot of comedy.
So I think marrying all of that together is so difficult. I genuinely didn't know how they would pull it off. I remember reading it and filming it and thinking, "I don't know what's going to happen with the final product," because it's difficult to go from lighthearted to choreograph dancing to tugging at the heartstrings. It's so difficult! But actually, having watched most of it now, I'm so proud. I'm so proud of everybody!
As you should be! I also wanted to touch on your acting experiences in general. Obviously, there's been a significant influx of diversity in the last few years. How has navigating the industry as a half-Black, half-Pakistani woman been for you? Have there been any challenges or a smooth journey?
I think definitely not smooth! As I mentioned before about these types of roles not coming up very often, I think, more specifically, these types don't come up very often for Black women. And so I haven't been allowed to play these types of roles so far in my career because if they do exist and they do exist, they're so far and few between, and there's so many of us. I just think more roles like this need to be created and written because you can be the greatest actor or performer, but it's like if you're just not given the opportunity to show your ability, nobody will ever know.
Again, that's why I genuinely love Nick, who wrote these characters in such a well-crafted and in-depth way, because Cindy, for me as an actor and as a Black woman, is an absolute dream to play. Jamie and Nick were also great about keeping that awareness of the fact that Cindy's Black. I mean, it isn't the show where we are addressing the politics or issues of the time, but there were still little lines here and there to acknowledge that Cindy's a Black woman in a mostly white space, which I love.
In general, what do you hope to achieve in your acting career?
I mean, first of all, I hope to have a very long career. I don't know if this is too vague, but I just want to work on projects with people I rate and respect and play multifaceted characters with something to say. And with how things are going on and offscreen regarding diversity and inclusion, I just want to be a part of that, just like the generation of actors and actresses before me who paved the way and opened doors for actors like me. I want to be that for the next generation as well.
Absolutely! And going back to your role of Cindy, we've established she makes extremely questionable decisions. But in what way is she relatable and a good role model?
I mean, the thing is, she obviously has amazing qualities, and at her core, she's a good person. And again, viewers will find out why she makes such questionable decisions. But she's incredibly fiercely loyal, which I can relate to, and she'll do anything for the people she loves. She's strong, she's powerful, she's all those things, but she's also very sympathetic and very vulnerable. And as the series progresses, you'll see more and more of her opening up and allowing Jean in more and how hard that is for her but necessary to move forward. So I think all of those things, like most human beings, I can relate to. So I hope everyone will just love her as much as I do.
Lastly, what do you hope viewers take away from the show?
On the one hand, I hope viewers take away a sense of escapism and fun, regardless of how old they are. Whether it's nostalgia or retro, I hope people enjoy the world of Malice and the characters we created and the world and the kind of glamour of it and the flamboyance and the hair and the makeup and the costume and the music and all of that. That is something I definitely want people to enjoy! But I also hope people take away that the heart of the show, which is essentially the dynamics and relationships between family and partners and the issues that every single person is dealing with all of the time, regardless of their background.
Catch Tahirah Sharif in the eight-part series A Town Called Malice on Sky Max and NOW in the UK on Thursday, March 16 at 9 pm.
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