A budding teenage actress from Kentish Town has seen her dream come true after landing a role in EastEnders.
Rina Diamond, 16, a former pupil at Haverstock School who is now studying for A-levels at college, said she “dropped to the floor and just started crying” when her agent called her to tell she had got the part.
“I couldn’t believe it! I’ve been in school productions before, but this is by far the biggest thing I’ve ever got!” Rina told the Ham&High.
She says she was determined to get the role and credits her training at RAaw London, in Camden for her confidence. “It’s given me this killer instinct!” she said.
Filming took place earlier this month and the episode is scheduled to be aired in May.
The experience was everything the young actress had dreamed of. “I had my own dressing room! I kept calling my mum to tell her about it,” she said.
Rina grew up on the St Silas Estate, in Kentish Town, the only child of two Kosovan immigrants who fled to the UK in 1998 during their country’s civil war.
She paid tribute to her parents, Muhameti and Shukrie Jacupi, and said: “My mum and dad sacrificed everything to come here and had to start with nothing, without speaking any English.
“They’ve done so much to make a better life for me here, investing in my training, supporting me and always taking me to classes. Making them proud is so important to me.”
Her background has left a deep impression on Rina, not just growing up on a council estate, but as the child of immigrant parents.
“I go back to Kosovo every year. I really want to make my country proud of me as well.
“I want to inspire not only people from rougher neighbourhoods, but also people from immigrant communities who have gone through really hard experiences,” she said.
The young actress fell in love with drama when she first started doing English and poetry at primary school.
She took on the name “Diamond” from a music teacher who used to call her “my little diamond.” “Now I’ve sort of adopted it,” she said.
Rina is hoping this is the first step of many on the road to a fulltime acting career.
“It made me even more sure this is what I want to do,” she said
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