After starring in Swedish crime series Snabba Cash, Evin Ahmad is back on Netflix — and this time she's playing a Brit, in the lead role of the seven-part thriller Who Is Erin Carter?
Erin Carter is a British ex-pat living in Barcelona, working as a substitute teacher and living what appears to be a fairly normal life with her daughter and husband — but when Erin and her daughter Harper get caught up in a supermarket robbery, Erin fights off the robbers with such skill that it's clear she's no ordinary teacher, and one of the robbers recognises her from a previous encounter!
So just who is Erin Carter — and what has she been running away from?
Naturally, that kind of double life is just the kind of juicy part an actor likes to sink their teeth into, so we caught up with Evin to find out all about her latest role...
Evin Ahmad interview for Who Is Erin Carter
How do we meet Erin at the start of the series?
"Basically, the show begins with something mysterious happening. You see a woman, Erin, and she's with this little kid in a hotel room. Something is going on, and we don't know what, but we see that they're trying to hide or escape from someone or something. Then cut to a few years later, we're in Barcelona and we see Erin being a teacher, and everything is nice and beautiful — but then she and Harper go to the supermarket and a robbery happens, and Erin is in a situation where she has to protect her daughter. And in the fight, one of the robbers recognises her — or does he? So we learn that she is maybe not who she says she is..."
What impact does being recognised by the robber have on her?
"Well, it's not good because she's a woman of many secrets! And the thing is, it's not just about her being secretive for the sake of it, there is actually a big threat to her life, her family and her daughter, so she could lose a lot of things. When you've been lying for seven years, you have to be quick — you have to keep up with that lie, and you have to protect that."
What was it like filming all of the action sequences in the series?
"Very fun — sweaty, warm and fun! There's just something about violence and choreography and badass female characters, I just like the rhythm when it comes to a fight. It was difficult, of course, but it was lovely to do it — and sometimes it hurt!"
What can you tell us about Erin's relationship with her daughter Harper?
"That's what was mesmerising to me about the script, because I think sometimes when we see women in movies or TV shows in an action context, we don't get to see the other part, the family side or the motherly side. I thought that was so beautiful and very interesting, because we get to see so many different sides of Erin. In one scene she's a badass, having this massive fight, and then she has a really beautiful moment with her daughter going to prom — it's the contrast that I really love."
What was it like playing the dual elements of Erin — the façade, and who she really is?
"That was very fun for me. That's a very exciting way to act — every character has to have a secret anyway, and that's what I like to play, the face out and the face inside. I would say it was difficult when it came to playing a teacher, because that's so far away from me. Teachers, they're pretty cool! What they do is awesome, and playing a teacher gave me sympathy and respect for them — you actually have to teach the new generation some things! But also the idea of a teacher is so innocent — I remember at school, if you ever learned or heard anything about your teacher, that was a massive thing. Imagine if these kids found out what Erin does!"
What were some of your favourite moments from filming?
"I loved doing the fights, I thought they were very cool. There's a scene in the mountains that comes later, with another character, Lena [played by Denise Gough]. I loved the relationship between Erin and Lena."
"And working with Douglas Henshall was amazing, because he has his own big show, which is on Swedish television as well. When I met him, he was just really lovely, and you can just instantly feel that he's done a lot of things. It was just a blessing to play with actors that have so much experience and are extremely talented, which makes my job easier."
This is a very intense role — what was it like living with that for months on end? Did you need some time out occasionally?
"Uh, yeah! I was almost in every scene, I worked every day, we worked six days a week sometimes. We didn't have that much time, so I was playing her and then I would go from set to rehearse a fight — there were so many things going on. And on top of that, I'm acting in in an accent, in a second language that I've never acted in in my whole life, so I was very tired!"
Your accent is really convincing! Did that take a lot of time to master?
"Oh my God, everyone scared me! They were very precise about the accent. So I had my dialect coach with me every morning, every night, travelling back to my apartment, so it was a lot of work. But I have to say, it felt like being back to drama school, I feel like I've learned so much. There was one word I struggled with: 'corridor', because in Sweden you say 'korri-DOR'. It was ridiculous — eventually I started saying 'hallway'!"
All episodes of Who Is Erin Carter? will be available on Netflix from Thursday, August 24
