THE SURPRISE OF LIFE: MIA RODGERS' UNEXPECTED TRIUMPHS

Janet Igah: Tell me about your journey to this breakout role. What were the challenges and opportunities along the way?

MR: I'm 24 now, and I've been acting since I was about 17. In terms of me getting this job it was a very quick turnaround, but in terms of the lead up to being in this position has been a very messy and turbulent one, but a great one. I started out singing-I thought I was going to be a musical theatre girl. That was my first love, and as time went on, I evolved into acting. When I was 18, I got the opportunity to be signed to an agency in London, and my world opened up. Beforehand I had no real idea of how actors became actors. I just thought they showed up on my television. Once I learned about it, and I got the opportunity, I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, so I still dipped my hand in other pies. I thought was going to go into fashion at one point. I did art courses just in case. You need a backup, so whilst I was auditioning from about 18 to 22, l was working in film instead, and I was a prop buyer which is really niche. I've only met one other person that did that. It was amazing, and it brought the opportunity to understand the industry while [I was] still trying to act. But that just unfortunately, wasn't necessarily going in the way that I wanted it to. I was still getting small jobs, and I was. I was. I was growing as an actor, and learning about how to go about it and go to my own classes and things like that. But yeah, it just didn't really work out in the way I wanted. But then Covid came around and I was like, right, I need to have a conversation myself and actually work out what I'm going to do, because if this is what I really want, I really need to put all my eggs in that basket and go for it.

JI: Covid was an eye opener for a lot of people in that way.

MR: 100 percent, because there's [this feeling that] I need to reflect, [because] the world's changing-this isn't how I want to be living my life. So I was like, 'I'm going to audition for drama school.' I only auditioned for one. It's called the Royal Centre School of Speech and Drama. I got to go and do what I loved. Every day I was surrounded by like-minded people of all age groups -I had a 53-year-old cab driver in my class.

JI: As you were trying to figure out what works, what was inspiring you, and continuing to motivate you, what were some of the things along the way that inspired you to keep going?

MR: Quite honestly, I know it's a cliche answer, but my parents. It's hard and demotivating when it isn't going the way you want-the way you're putting in all this effort, and it's just not happening. I've always been very conscious, like I said earlier, of having an idea of a backup plan or something like that. My parents, every single time, are like, 'No, no, you don't need a Plan B- this is your Plan A, and Plan A is going to work.' If I didn't have somebody like that holding my hand and actually being like, 'No, no, you're good enough,' I definitely wouldn't be in this position at all. I think I would have given up. I'm so grateful to them because they never made me feel like anything was too big, or that I was too small for anything. It's very rare to have two people in your life that are pushing you, and [have] more belief in you than you might for yourself. I'm 105 eternally grateful for them. There's been a few moments in my time where I've been like, 'Right, I'm packing, I'm gonna go. I [want] to be a fashion journalist, I'm gonna go do that.' My mom's like, 'No, why?'

JI: What would you say inspires you to accept the roles you've played thus far?

MR: I've had great parts, but they have been on a smaller scale. I'm really happy that [has] been the case, because if I started when I was 18, to walk into [this] and have that pressure, I think I would have crumbled entirely. But instead, for example, I worked with Stephen Graham, who I absolutely adore, and I worked with John Sims. I have a memory being in a freezing, cold church running lines with John Sims and he was getting really frustrated about the speech he was doing, And I was like, 'Hey, do you want some help?' And he's like, 'I actually really would.' I think I had one scene with him or something, but that memory was ingrained in my head like, 'Wow, this is who I want to be.' It was incredible. Up until Sex Lives, I was just trying to get a job. Honestly, I haven't been in a position where I can think about whether it's something I want, but every role that I've had I'm eternally grateful for, especially this one, to be fair. I did a short film last year, and I spoke to Carrie [Caroline Goldfarb], our amazing director, after, because she kept emailing me being like, 'Hey, I really want you to audition for Hayley.' I met her really randomly at this magazine launch where she was the photographer. We were just chatting, and we swapped emails, and she was like, 'Hey, I've got this character. I really want you to read for her.' I wasn't able to read for her for like 3 months or something, but she kept pestering, and I was like, 'Right, okay, let me just do it.' She called me like straight after, and she's like, "Thank God! Because I know you were her. I wrote this part for you. JI: That was really good, that someone saw that in you outside of your parents. To be like, "This is a role I can craft for her.' I love your story of persistence, perseverance, and being very practical. It does still feel like it was curated in some way, so I wanted to talk about a little bit. What would you say is the mind shift from those serious roles to being Taylor [on] "Sex Lives?"