Bridgerton's Simone Ashley finally feels 'seen' in new rom-com Picture This

Sex Education icon Simone Ashley, who was born to Tamil parents, stars as photographer Pia in the new romantic-comedy movie, Picture This

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Bridgerton star Simone Ashley opened up about the importance of diversity as she discussed her new romantic-comedy, Picture This.

The Sex Education icon, who was born to Tamil parents, stars as photographer Pia - who is juggling a failing business while dealing with the arrival of her ex and her parents' concern for her love life. The feel-good movie was released on Amazon Prime Video on 6 March and also stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

On Tuesday, following the release of the movie, Simone sat down for a chat on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast and discussed her pride at finally having diverse representation on screens as she never got to see it growing up. Simone, who said she wanted to be Cameron Diaz when she was young, revealed: "I loved all the characters she played, but the girls that looked like me were always the side chick or just the one that didn't win and that didn't reflect my real life because I've won in real life in many ways."

She added: "I would say the younger me is kind of like, 'Oh my gosh, we did a rom com and it's an Indian girl leading it!'" Although she wishes she could have seen diverse characters when she was younger, she hopes Picture This helps with it. She said: "To put it simply... When it comes to this movie, I just want brown women to have it and to just win!"

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"I hope that I can help other women and other girls that look like me go, 'It's possible'. And I grew up watching all the 90s rom coms like My Best Friend's Wedding, all the Julia Roberts ones, all the Anne Hathaway ones, all the Cameron Diaz ones." She went on to compare herself to the many iconic rom com characters of the 90s.

Simone continued: "I've also had chaos in real life in many ways, like Bridget Jones. The reason why I wanted to do this movie [Picture This] was because I wanted to show the world just the human side of someone and then celebrate the culture at the same time. I think things would have just felt a bit more normal and accessible [for younger me]."

In the new movie, Pia meets a series of suitors, portrayed by the likes of comedian Asim Chaudhry, Starstruck’s Nikesh Patel and Ted Lasso’s Phil Dunster, while avoiding her first love Charlie (played by Fiennes Tiffin). While reviewers have called the film standard rom-com fare, they all agreed that Ashley is a major star in the making thanks to her stellar lead performance.

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