Both Not Half: How language shapes identity | Jassa Ahluwalia | TEDxChandigarh

Is he British? Is he a Punjabi? No, he is both. Listen to the powerful story of a man torn between two identities and how he overcame it all. Jassa Ahluwalia is an actor, writer and filmmaker. He came to prominence as loveable badboy Rocky in the hit BBC Three series ‘Some Girls’, followed by starring roles in ‘Ripper Street’ and the internationally acclaimed series ‘Peaky Blinders’.

‘Heart’s Ease’, his writer-director debut short film, won two Best Film awards during its festival run, and was an official selection at San Diego International Film Festival and the BAFTA-qualifying London Short Film Festival. It was described by bestselling author Anthony Horowitz as “an accomplished piece of film-making”.

Jassa’s second short film, ‘Near’, in which he also stars (alongside Olivier nominee Amy Lennox), is currently in postproduction. ‘Ancient Giants’, a documentary short that he produced, exploring deforestation in Chile, recently premiered at the prestigious Kendal Mountain Festival. In addition, he is developing a TV series with his sister Ramanique Ahluwalia, from a script longlisted by the BBC Writersroom.

Jassa found further recognition in 2019 after his homemade comedy skits went viral on social media. His videos, in which he plays an old Punjabi uncle, were accompanied by his hashtag #BothNotHalf, the distillation of his ideas on mixed heritage experience. This led to Jassa being elected to the Equity Minority Ethnic Members Committee to help lead the fight for better representation in the performing arts.

Jassa concluded 2019 by hosting the BritAsia Music Awards at the historic Wembley Arena. In the New Year, he will be reprising his role in series 4 of ‘Unforgotten’, starring Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx