You may have seen her as the chirpy VJ on a music channel, a dainty face on many a magazine cover or in a cameo role in the occasional Bollywood movie. Canadian model Mia Uyeda has dabbled in many fields before making her mainstream Bollywood debut with Mahesh Bhatt’s Blood Money that released this weekend. “I happened to be at the right place at the right time,” she says, explaining the serendipity of her life, adding, “And it was always coupled with the right amount of hard work, of course.”
About her entry into showbiz, Mia says she was first spotted by a photographer in Canada when she was 14. “I was a total punk those days. Half my head was shaved, I had piercings all over. But the photographer thought I’d do well as a model, and that’s how my journey began.” But even then, there were other hurdles which needed to be crossed. Since she was way too young, her mother wasn’t keen on her travelling far for work, with the result that she had to wait until she turned 17. “I worked extensively across Asia and Europe, and enjoyed every bit of it,” she says.
And when someone spotted her at the Kingfisher model hunt, she received an invite to start VJ-ing as well. “One thing led to another, and here I am, starring in a Bollywood film!” she enthuses.
While she was helped largely by her dialogues in Blood Money being in English, the girl says she can manage decent Hindi. “I have been taking Hindi classes for the last three years and can pull off a decent conversation,” she says proudly.