Charithra Chandran admits it "hurts" that people assume she gets work because of "diversity quotas".
The 25-year-old actress is set to star as Edwina Sharma in the new series of 'Bridgerton' and she admitted she has gone down a "scary" chain of thought of believing the suggestion her casting wasn't down to talent.
She said: "People assume my success is due to a diversity quota. I’ve even had friends say to me, 'Oh you got that because you’re brown', and that really hurts.
"What’s really scary is that you can start believing it and thinking, 'The only reason I got cast as Edwina is because they were looking for an Indian family.' "
But Chandran believes the "colour-conscious" casting of the Netflix period drama has been good for the industry.
She told Telegraph magazine: "I think that 'Bridgerton' has done for TV what 'Hamilton' did for theatre.
"It encouraged a totally different audience to watch period drama and romances. And it made us feel seen on screen.
"It would be very hard to have a period drama now that isn’t diverse."
The actress welcomed the opportunity to have input into her character because she wanted to use her platform in the most positive way she could.
She said: "The writers were really open to having conversations. We had all their numbers and they’d just be like, 'I’m in Texas, it’s cool, this is the time difference, just call…'
"I really made myself clear about what I wanted for this young woman. That was kind of scary because I was so new to the business, but I knew what I wanted.
"As a dark-skinned Indian girl, I may never get this platform again. So I needed to utilise it in a positive way.
"I’m really passionate about dark-skinned representation. And to see two dark-skinned South Asian ladies in the biggest show in the world is iconic."
