Netflix’s Who Is Erin Carter? has cemented Evin Ahmad’s place in the international entertainment arena. She plays the lead, a British teacher in Barcelona, Spain, caught up in a robbery that threatens her new life, dragging her back to her past. Ahmad’s portrayal of Erin Carter in the British thriller series created by Jack Lothian might have exposed her to a vaster, global audience, but she has been around since the 2000s. She first gained mainstream recognition in Swedish cinema with roles in films that explored themes ranging from family violence to the plight of immigrants in Sweden.
Before Who Is Erin Carter?, she had attained cross-border acclaim with Netflix shows like Quicksand, The Rain, and Snabba Cash, a series based on Jens Lapidus’ Stockholm Noir novels. She plays the daughter of immigrant parents in the crime drama, a single mother of Middle Eastern origin desperate to raise money for her A.I. company. Evin Ahmad has received some prestigious awards for her performances in the series and other productions like Beyond Dreams. She’s thus far been nominated twice for the Guldbagge Awards, Sweden’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Oscars.
1. Evin Ahmad Is A Swede Of Iraqi And Syrian Ancestry
Like her character in Snabba Cash, the Erin Carter actress was born to Immigrant parents. Evin Ahmad was born on June 8, 1990, in Stockholm, Sweden, where she was raised. So, while she’s a Swede, she has a mixed Middle Eastern heritage. Her father, Adel Ahmad, is originally from Sulaymaniyah, a mountainous province in Kurdistan, Iraq, whereas her mother, Narin Hamada, is from Afrin, a city located in northern Syria. Adel and Narin immigrated to Sweden sometime in the 1980s when the Swedish government opened its borders to asylum seekers. The country has been home to the couple and their family ever since. Alongside two siblings, including a brother named Aran Ahmad, Evin was raised in the Akalla district of Stockholm, where she has lived most of her life.
2. Her Father Is Also An Actor
Evin Ahmad’s knack for acting was probably inspired by her father, who’s also an actor. The actress shared a 1995 picture of Adel Ahmad with his Kurdish theatre group on her Instagram page in January 2021. A classically trained actor, Evin Ahmad’s dad has also performed on the screens. His most recent works are in Peter Pontikis’ 2023 film Bullets and Baran, a family drama wherein he played Bakr in several episodes. Upon his arrival in Sweden, Adel mostly worked as a janitor and taxi driver to support his family but has since found his way back to his original profession.
3. Evin Ahmad Began Her Career At Age 15
The Kurdish-Swedish actress began her professional career as a teenager at age 15. She fell in love with acting as a child while performing in school plays. Years after she debuted on screen in 2007, Evin Ahmad enrolled at Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts to study acting. She has come a long way since her early days in the industry when she felt like an imposter. The actress told The New York Times that Snabba Cash was her first acting gig with a diverse cast. “I started my acting career when I was 15, and it took me 15 years to be in this type of cast,” she said. “I was just very inspired because usually, I’m alone…the only person of color in the room,” added Ahmad.
4. Who Is Erin Carter? Is Her First English Speaking Role
Evin Ahmad’s non-English roles in Netflix shows like Quicksand, The Rain, and Snabba Cash showcased her talent to a global audience, paving the way for her to land her first English-speaking role in Who Is Erin Carter? Recalling how she landed the part, the Swedish actress attributed it to her performance in Snabba Cash. She told NumeroMag that the show’s executive producer, Rob Bullock, invited her to audition for the Erin Carter role after seeing her portrayal of Leya in Snabba Cash.
“It was a whirlwind experience,” stated the actress. “I met the showrunner, Jack Lothian, did my audition, and later that night, they offered me the role,” she disclosed. With three weeks to prepare, Ahmad began learning the British accent. Thanks to a dialect coach who worked with her on set, she felt more comfortable performing in English.
5. The Actress Is A Published Author
The Erin Carter actress is also an author; she published her debut novel One Day I Will Build a Castle of Money in 2017. Ahmad said she wrote the entire novel on her phone at age 22. The book is fundamentally an autobiographical account of her early life experience in Sweden. “It is a story about becoming an artist and being a young artist in our time in a segregated city like Stockholm. The novel talks about navigating between guilt and inheritance, choosing between different kinds of betrayal,” the actress told NumeroMag.
“The story is told from a young girl’s perspective as she enters a high-profile elite drama school and the cultural clash that she experiences going to that school,” she added. Evin Ahmad hopes to publish another book, but writing isn’t her priority at the moment. She wants to gain more global acclaim and launch a production company.
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