In my essay for 'The Good Immigrant,' I write about how concerns about race and immigration crept up on me a bit because of how I grew up and my background - I was quite fortunate, really; I never got the rough end of the stick with a lot of that kind of stuff.

Himesh Patel

Categorized in : Me Good Never End

When I was 14, I bought myself a cheap electric guitar and tried to teach myself.

Himesh Patel

tried myself teach guitar

Sometimes on a soap, it can become about all this other stuff - the party circuit, reality shows - but I gravitated towards people who kept it all about the work.

Himesh Patel

work sometimes reality people

'Blackbird' is a really beautiful song, and I actually recently started trying to learn it, and it's beautiful.

Himesh Patel

learn song trying beautiful

I'm probably one of the few people who can say that I've played an empty Wembley Stadium.

Himesh Patel

say who empty people

When it comes to period stuff, I think it's great to see South-Asian actors get their foot in the door there, because it's nice to tell period stories and tell it in a way that reflects the world now.

Himesh Patel

great think way world

My mom's favorite song ever is 'Imagine' because it came out around when she arrived in England.

Himesh Patel

she imagine mom song

Where do I fit in? That's something I think about as an actor, especially as an actor from a minority community.

Himesh Patel

minority something think community

I was sometimes a bit lonely as a teenager. There was a cultural disconnect.

Himesh Patel

cultural disconnect lonely sometimes

What we had on was BBC Asian Network and Bollywood sound-tracks - they were my reference points. But of course, where I grew up, I was one of two Indian guys in my school, and I didn't really have anyone else to share that with.

Himesh Patel

where share two school

One thing that I struggled with was not corpsing when you're being thrown stuff that's absolutely hilarious by the other actors.

Himesh Patel

thing being you one-thing

I think an office is just a microcosm of life and the different kinds of people that you will come across and interactions there, and I think if you all sit in a room together, then it gets a bit more intense and fun for people to watch, maybe.

Himesh Patel

you together life people

I personally am going to look for stuff that interests me and either has very little to do or has the right thing to do with my ethnicity.

Himesh Patel

the-right-thing right look me

When I was on 'EastEnders,' I still had a paper route until I was 21 and left home.

Himesh Patel

still left paper home

I went to America for the first time with my mum when I was 7, and I loved it. I remember wanting to see the Hollywood sign, and then, there I was, shooting a scene right by it for 'Yesterday.'

Himesh Patel

loved yesterday time remember

When my dad visited me while I was doing a play in New York City two years ago, I took him to see 'Late Show With Stephen Colbert.' Now I'm going to his house. It's surreal.

Himesh Patel

city new me dad

I think sometimes you can think up a story, but it's because you're comfortable doing that, but when you're an actor, one of the things that you have to do is take yourself out of your comfort zone.

Himesh Patel

yourself think you sometimes

For the last few years, I've enjoyed writing my own stuff since studying creative writing at school, and as I've grown up, I've realised how much I enjoy escaping into a world that I've created myself. So I've kept that up as a hobby.

Himesh Patel

myself enjoy world school

I keep a notebook of ideas, and sometimes ideas form in your head that you just have to write down, or you'll forget them.

Himesh Patel

you forget sometimes ideas

I think that you've got to do things that you're not particularly comfortable with sometimes, and that's what you get the most respect for.

Himesh Patel

think you respect sometimes

The Beatles kind of pervade everything. They're always kind of part of everyone's lives.

Himesh Patel

everyone everything always kind