Zerqa Ahmad features in Punjabi film Fikar Karo Na, which was released in India on Thursday and is due to appear in UK cinemas soon.
The 52-year-old said she broke into acting after being discouraged from doing it when she was younger, as acting is a big taboo in her culture, especially for Pakistani women.
Zerqa said: “When I was younger, I wanted to do drama, but I was discouraged, so I couldn’t do it at that point.
“Decades went by, and I was helping one of my cousins by taking him down to London because he’s and actor and he was filming a Bollywood movie.
“I was helping him learn his lines and that’s how I got noticed.
“The woman playing the mum didn’t turn up for the film role and the director said I’d be perfect for the role, so I did that movie.”
Fikar Karo Na will be Zerqa’s second Bollywood movie, and she will be playing the grandma of the lead actress.
Some of the actors she plays alongside are people she has grown up watching.
She had previously acted in a British film called Tell Me About It, which was released in 2023 and was also scouted to appear in Eastenders, but she turned down that opportunity.
She said: “I don’t compromise my culture by doing kissing scenes or others, I wouldn’t do that, so I had to let that go.”
She is now working with an agent to try and get her onto Coronation Street.
Zerqa has worked for the council for 23 years and has said that they have been extremely supportive of her acting.
She said: “I always want to be an ambassador for Bury and the council have always supported me and whenever I’ve had filming, they’ve always let me go because they know I represent Bury and put Bury on the map because I’m proud to be from here.
“I help people build their confidence in acting and get women into acting because I’m breaking the barriers and norms.
“Just because you’re an actress, you don’t have to bare all and do rude scenes, you can keep your dignity and respect.
“I only do scenes that I can watch with my daughter and family.”
She has won the Best Asian Actress Oracle Awards three times in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and has a few more films lined up in the future.
