"I was born in The Wrekin Hospital at 4:12am on July 21st  1996. I grew up in a town called Telford which is in Shropshire, near Birmingham, for those of you that don’t know. 

Fun fact: we have the first ever Ironbridge in the world.  I am the youngest of three. My Mama is Chinese and was adopted from Hong Kong by white English parents and raised in Bradford in Yorkshire when she was 5 months old. My Pa is Dominican and grew up In Birmingham, after his parents moved from the Caribbean in the 1960s. I am incredibly proud of my mixed heritage and the ancestry that I come from”

Growing up mixed race, brown and racially ambiguous in Britain is definitely not easy and everyday holds its little challenges but it’s something I wouldn’t change for the world. My parents always taught me to be proud of my race and to never let it hold me back. Being different is part of my power. Being “other” is my magic.

I had a very enjoyable childhood and am grateful to have grown up in an area that was safe and surrounded by greenery. I spent a lot of my younger years playing out in the woods, climbing trees, building dens and running around the fields. This has definitely made me very appreciative of nature in my adult life and finding a big outdoor green space is something I often crave to keep me grounded in the city. 

I never really knew what I wanted to pursue as a career when I hit the age 16. I had so many interests and at the time was dabbling with the idea of being a photographer until one day my brother said to me “Rosie, do you really want to be behind the camera?” and BAM. Just like that, a lightbulb went off. I wanted to be an actor. It had never occurred to me before that it was even an option. I didn’t see anyone that looked like me on screen. We had always watched a lot of films as a family and been lovers of the performance industry but the idea of actually BEING the person on stage or on the TV screen was never a thought that crossed my mind until then. 

Once that lightbulb went off, there was no going back. I was on a mission. I did all the research, watched interviews, films, plays, looked into drama schools, actors journey’s etc. I had this thought in my mind that I had catching up to do. I believed, people had known since they were 3 they wanted to be actors so I had to catch up! Which is such a silly thought looking back now but hey it is what fuelled my drive in those teen years. I got into National Youth Theatre at 17 and that summer was one of most enjoyable and exciting experiences ever. I had found my people and knew exactly where I needed to be. 

I spent the next year travelling back and forth from Telford to London, to see plays, go to acting class, do shows with NYT etc until I finally took the leap and moved to the big smoke when I was 19.

I visited London quite a bit growing up to see family and stuff but living here was a whole different ball game. In the first few years I was juggling so many jobs just to scrape by and pay my rent. I did catering work, waitressing, promotion jobs, bar work, ushering at a theatre, handing out Time Out magazines at 7am outside tube stations (that one particularly kills the soul), I was an 02 Angel (silly name, basically just directed people to the toilet at concerts whilst wearing wings), receptionist and more. I lived off a food shop budget of £30 a week, I am now a pro at batch cooking and if I had hours to kill between work and an audition for example I would hang out in central rather than pay for the travel back and forth.

Little Tip: Foyles on Tottenham Court Road is a great place to kill time and hide away! I love finding a good book and huddling in the corner of the store to read. 

Those first few years were particularly gruelling but I am grateful for them and proud of myself for getting through it. Working 14+ hour days, doing things I did not love or fulfil me in the slightest but I knew they were the steps I had to make to get where I wanted to be. I didn’t have much time to play and enjoy my life in the big city back then, it was just work, work and work, acting class, maybe an audition here and there and more work. I have always been a sensible person and naturally am quite mature in my character but moving to London at 19 definitely sped up that process. 

I now teach Pilates which is a great side hustle alongside acting. I love teaching and am happy to have found a source of income which brings me joy, security and the opportunity to move my body. Movement and exercise have always been an integral part of my life and I love how it is now, my job too. 

Looking back at the past 6 years, only now I can truly see how much graft, focus and drive it took me to get here today and that is why I have chosen “Driven” as my word. I am very proud of younger Rosie.

I have accomplished some cool things, met some amazing people and created some great memories but I am just getting started. I have barely scratched the surface in terms of what I want to achieve, do and create in this world and I cannot wait for what the future holds! Bigger, better and brighter things are coming, let’s gooooo! 

~ Rosie~

I am Driven