Today we’d like to introduce you to Aisha K.
Hi Aisha, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Thanks for the opportunity to share. I’m a writer-actor and film-maker who now lives in LA, born and raised in London, England. The real one, not the Bridgerton one.
I’m lucky to have grown up in a city obsessed with theatre, live performance and the BEST comedy in the world (no bias but … eh, some bias) – and I wanted to be a part of it all, green rooms and glamour and eeerrrrrrything.
Post-training, I worked on stage; some favourites being Marat/Sade, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, East is East, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Domestic Crusaders. As I progressed, I did more television work in the UK, and loved working with ALL the animals during several seasons of Waffle the Wonder Dog. Who’d have thought geckos liked the limelight?
I figured it wouldn’t hurt to take more creative control of my projects, so I started writing, and established a performance forum called ‘The Stick Man Club’ which provided other writer-actors with opportunities to try their work on audiences. My first play, Treya’s Last Dance, toured New York and LA after London, winning a few awards along the way (I was pleased!). I won a place on the Kali Writer Development Programme, where I developed a couple more plays; Wisdom Teeth had its first production in London.
Coming to the US has been a journey full of fantastical people and occurrences . I’ve worked on awesome shows, films and plays (Reasonable Doubt, All For Her, Manhood spring to mind) and have developed more plays for production with Central Works Theatre Group.
I’m currently in post-production for a surreal, black comedy short film I wrote and developed, and will be filming an upcoming short and television pilot (details to come later) in May and June of this year. The future is bright, and busy!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Does anyone have a smooth road? I doubt it. Mine certainly hasn’t been, but then I wonder – if it had been smooth, would things have been as interesting to live through? Who knows.
The entertainment industry is not easy at the best of times. In the UK, it was frustrating to be constantly typecast, and frustrating that parts that people could more easily see me in either didn’t exist, or were inaccessible outside of fringe work. That frustration fueled my writing and my creativity – I was driven by a need to carve out parts and tell stories for people like me. So maybe it was a bit of a blessing in disguise.
Over here, it’s been a whole set of new challenges. When I arrived, I had no connections, no links; I pretty much had to start from the ground up. That would have been enough, but add to that the pandemic, the strikes, the rise of AI and all the insanity around us … it seems to me that embracing all the struggles and finding a way to enjoy creating despite challenges is a good way to deal.
If you think about it, struggle is simply a counter-force against inertia. And I’m all in for that.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a writer-actor and filmmaker. I dabble in modeling. What links all the creative strands? The chance to tell interesting, funny, surreal stories that give flight to the imagination and push people to ask questions.
I’m most proud of the plays and films that I have written and worked to get off the ground. Make no mistake – nothing has come easily, and I’m proud of the fact that I can push myself, grit my teeth and get through the hard bits to reach the other side, where a sense of achievement awaits.
That’s what sets me apart – large amounts of grit and tenacity. Also a collection of truly terrible jokes.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Great question. I’m always looking for people who want to just put aside a few hours and make stuff together – film snippets, images, whole shorts. People who want to go somewhere, take a camera, shoot some film and put it out there. Or just laugh at the mistakes in private. Either way.
I have ideas, I have scripts, let’s create!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @its_aisha_t_k
Image Credits
Marc Chag
Kevin Tidmore
Austin Gill
Frank Ishman
Abs Partha
