Former student Taheen Modak’s acting career goes from strength to strength, despite only leaving us six years ago. We are extremely proud of him.
Last time we reported on Taheen, he had just starred in the West End and in the first series of ITV drama ‘The Bay’. It was already apparent that his star would continue to rise, and this has certainly proven correct!
First, a bit of background on Taheen. He joined Isleworth & Syon School in September 2007, and he would be the first to tell you that his interest in drama during key stage 3 was non-existent. However, Mrs Davies-Jones and the performing arts department worked incredibly hard to engage him and, before long, a passion emerged! He appeared on-stage for the first time in 2013 school production ‘The Government Inspector’ while studying a BTEC in performing arts. His performances in his assessments were outstanding and, by this point, he knew he wanted to go to drama school.
Unsuccessful auditions in 2014 didn’t deter him, and he took a gap year to develop his skills through short films. This hard work paid off in 2015 as he earned a place at Bristol Old Vic, a world-renowned institution and a wonderful place to hone his craft. Alums of the school include Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Olivia Colman, Sir Patrick Stewart, Naomie Harris and Pearl Mackie. He studied a ‘Professional Acting’ qualification and graduated in 2018.
Fast forward two-and-a-half years and Taheen is now an established actor on stage and screen. As well as his West End debut and series 1 of ‘The Bay’, he earned a role in the Sky comedy-drama ‘Two Weeks to Live’. In the show, he starred opposite Maisie Williams (‘Game of Thrones) and Sian Clifford (‘Fleabag’), and definitely held his own! The show, described as a “darkly comic tale of love and revenge”, is available to stream on Sky Go or NOW TV (subscription required).
In January 2021, the second series of ITV’s ‘The Bay’ aired. Once again, Taheen was one of the main characters in this police drama set in Morecambe. Throughout the series, his role developed even further, with Taheen given fantastic material! We won’t go into spoilers here, but we really do recommend giving it a watch. You can view the whole series on ITV Hub (no subscription required).
Due to the COVID pandemic, Taheen does not currently have any television projects in the pipeline – but he has still been busy! In recent times, he has recorded two audiobooks – ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh‘ by Salman Rushdie and ‘We Are All Birds of Uganda‘ by Hafsa Zayyan. Both audiobooks are published by #Merky Books, Stormzy’s publishing house in association with Penguin. It is so great to see Taheen stretch himself in such interesting ways!
You can watch Taheen describe his journey – in his own words – via the short video below. We made for it our Virtual Sixth Form Open Evening in November 2020.
You can also check out Taheen’s appearance on ITV daytime show ‘This Morning’, where he talks more about series 2 of ‘The Bay’:
Tags: 2020-21, Alumni, Bristol Old Vic, Drama, Taheen Modak
