Demi Isaac Oviawe first appeared on our screens as Linda Walsh in the hit comedy The Young Offenders, but now Demi is sharing her excitement over a new role, after previously struggling to land a new role.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Demi explained, “It’s very difficult to get parts in Ireland because there is not much happening here.
“I spent the last two years emailing agents, and finally one got back to me which I’m delighted about.”
Speaking about her new role as a Nigerian woman who is struggling to have a child in ‘To All My Darlings’, Demi shared, “The role is just so different to anything I have done before. I’d never been asked to play a Nigerian woman before and I didn’t need any convincing to do it once I’d read the script.”
Continuing, she revealed, “It’s a very sophisticated script. I was only 19 when I shot the film.”
Speaking about the importance of diversity and representation of minorities on Irish TV, Demi continued, “In the terrace of houses I’m from in Mallow, there are Poles, Russians, Asians, people from the Cameroon.
“And I feel we should be representing different cultures and races on our TV to make people feel represented.
“Not just on shows like Fair City but in sitcoms, in everything.”
Demi also opened up about struggling with fame, as she was cast in The Young Offenders at just 17 years old. “At the start it was kind of fun, people coming up to you thinking they know you.
“I loved the fact that the show had a massive impact on people. The majority of the time people were really nice.
“I suppose it’s the negative ones that stood out. That sometimes they’d just refer to me as ‘the black wan from the telly’, not even my character’s name.”
She continued, “Or it would be older men talking about the kissing scene [in the Young Offenders] stuff that really was inappropriate. You learn how to bite your tongue, and keep moving and laugh it off awkwardly.
“I’ve gotten messages from girls saying, ‘How do you have the courage to do that? How do you go out on national TV and dance? How do you say what’s on your mind and how do you show people you’re beautiful and all that?’”
She added: “But all I’m doing is what I want to do and what pleases me, whether that’s a script or doing a dance.
“I am here to prove that Ireland is more diverse and full of colour and there are different people everywhere and I’m here to portray it and show its okay to be different.”