Creating change
CARRIE LYELL MEETS A WOMAN ON A MISSION TO CHANGE THE WORLD, ONSCREEN AND IRL
I’ve been low-key crushing on actor, writer, producer and “artivist” Fawzia Mirza for the longest time. Witty, wacky and wonderful, she’s been tearing it up with the likes of Brown Girl Problems, Her Story, Kam Kardashian, and as Donald Trump’s illegitimate Muslim daughter, Ayesha. But that crush became a full on obsession last year, when I saw her brilliant film Signature Move at BFI Flare. So when l found myself shoulder to shoulder with her on a Cardiff dancefloor, signing and dancing to some truly awful karaoke during the Iris Prize Festival last October, I couldn’t help but ask her to marry m… for an interview.
DIVA: Is it true that you only started writing to create roles for yourself?
FAWZIA MIRZA: [Laughs] I definitely did start writing because I saw a lack of roles that were being offered to me to audition for as an actor, and I saw the roles as deeply limiting or stereotypes, not necessarily authentic or intersectional, and not telling the stories that I felt were part of my experience but also a lot of my friends’ experiences. So instead of waiting for someone to tell the story or write the story or write the role, I thought, well why don’t I just write the role? Or write the roles?