Documentary · BBC One
Am I English?
Made with his mum, the film digs into family, identity and Midlands history to ask what being English really means. Winner of an Asian Media Award, 2022.
ActorAuthorSpeakerAdviser
JassaAhluwalia
ਜੱਸਾ ਆਹਲੂਵਾਲੀਆ
From Rocky in Some Girls to Peaky Blinders, a BBC documentary and a book about being both, not half.
- ScreenRipper Street · Unforgotten · Peaky Blinders
- BookBoth Not Half
- AwardBest Narrator, Audio Production Awards
- TalkTEDxChandigarh, 250k+ views
The profile
British, Indian, and wholly both.
Coventry-born and Leicester-raised, Jassa has spent fifteen years on British screens, and the last few changing how we talk about mixed heritage.
Jassa grew up in Oadby speaking fluent Punjabi, studied Russian and Spanish at UCL, and left in his second year to act full time. Before that came student films, runner shifts, supporting-artist days and a stint presenting Art Attack.
The break came as Rocky in BBC Three's Some Girls. Then The Bible, Ripper Street, Unforgotten and Peaky Blinders. He wrote and directed the short Heart's Ease, winner of two Best Film awards.
In 2019 he started #BothNotHalf, a way of seeing mixed heritage as a whole identity rather than a split one. It became a TEDx talk, the BBC One documentary Am I English?, and a book.
#BothNotHalf
Both, not half.
For more than 25 years he called himself "half Indian, half English". Then he stopped.
On screen
Selected work
- 2012–14Some GirlsRocky · BBC Three
- 2013The BibleYoung David · History
- 2013Ripper StreetVincent Featherwell · BBC One
- 2013The WhaleOwen Coffin · BBC
- 2015–21UnforgottenAdam Stuart · ITV
- 2016Peaky BlindersDimitri · BBC
- 2018Slaughterhouse RulezFeature film
Writer & director
Heart's Ease
His debut short won two Best Film awards and screened at San Diego International and the BAFTA-qualifying London Short Film Festival.
“An accomplished piece of film-making.”Anthony Horowitz
The Letter
Hear it from Jassa first.
New roles, book news, talks and events. A few letters a year, never a flood.
The book · 2024
Both Not Half
A radical new approach to mixed heritage identity. Part memoir, part argument, it moves through language, empire, class and belonging.
“A brilliant, fresh and moving memoir.”William Dalrymple
Read by the author. Winner of Best Narrator at the Audio Production Awards.
Speaking & advisory
On stage
Sir Mota Singh Memorial Lecture
The annual lecture honouring Britain's first Asian judge.
Festival of Education keynote
Opening keynote at the festival's first edition.
Both Not Half
The talk that took the idea worldwide, now past 250,000 views.
Seen, heard and booked by
Representation