“When I lived in India, I'd speak like an Indian to get good prices whi...” — Hannah Simone Quote

When I lived in India, I'd speak like an Indian to get good prices while shopping. I'm good with accents.

If you look at my career path, I was a human rights and refugees officer for the United Nations. I helped research a book for Lloyd Axworthy. I've worked in coffee shops. I've sold clothes. I've hosted TV shows, and now I'm acting.

I went to Coachella once, and it was only to go see Leonard Cohen. I got in the car and sat through all the crazy traffic in L.A. to get there - instead of a two hour drive, it takes, like, six hours. Then I watched his set and turned around and left. I just so wanted to see him perform in the desert.

My mom used to call me a parrot, because the way I spoke would change in every country we'd go to.

Years later, when I was working as a trolley wally in a supermarket, I tackled the boredom by talking to the customers in as many different accents as I could manage. I started with one that I didn't think would alert any suspicion - generic Asian - then moved on to Irish, Welsh, Australian and American.

Kids in school told me my parents had accents, but I had no idea; they've always sounded that way to me.

I don't think people should be afraid of portraying people with accents, especially Asian accents.

Because of my Asian-ness, I couldn't be anonymous - what I said, what I ate, what I did at the weekend were startlingly different to what everyone else did. I was also a performer, quick and chameleon-like, good at accents, so that made me stand out.