When she began her acting career at the age of 15 in her native Stockholm, things were not easy for Evin Ahmad, the daughter of an Iraqi actor of Kurdish blood and a Kurdish mother from Syria. Although it was obvious that she had exceptional talent, her features did not match what the Swedish producers were looking for.
However, the graduate of the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts was finding the opportunities that have made her today, at the age of 33, one of the most popular actresses in her country. Although until now she had only filmed in the Scandinavian languages, much of her best work can be seen on Netflix, such as the hit series Easy Money, in which she had the leading role. She also had impactful but supporting roles in the Danish production The Rain, as well as the Swedish Quicksand.
Not surprisingly, Evin, who was selected as one of the 10 Rising Stars at the Berlin Film Festival in 2022, decided to take the big leap and switch to working in English. In addition to sharing the bill with Gerard Butler in the sequel to A Game of Thieves, which will hit screens in 2024 with the subtitle Pantera, Ahmed is the absolute protagonist of Who is Erin Carter? , the new Netflix miniseries that premieres this Thursday. It is a British production for Netflix, made by the same company that has won countless Emmys and Golden Globes with The Crown and which, like Pantera, was shot mostly in Spain, although the site chosen for Butler’s film was Tenerife and the one in the series, Barcelona.
Set in a fictional suburban community called Santa Alma, the seven-episode story that was co-produced by the Spanish company Palma Pictures tells what happens when an English woman, a substitute history teacher at an international school, finds her quiet domestic life Together with her husband and her 10-year-old daughter, she is forever upset. While she is shopping in a supermarket, a violent assault forces her to react, displaying talents for self-defense that none of those who know her simply as Erin Carter imagined.
Things get even more complicated when one of the assailants recognizes him. From that moment on, the woman who has been left in check must find a way to protect her loved ones and justify her actions, forcing her to lead a double life in which everything will gradually become entangled.
The series was written by Jack Lothian, who also serves as showrunner, an English television veteran who was involved in the original Shameless and whose more recent credits include the UK series Doc Martin and Strike Back. Irish Denise Gough ( Andor ) plays a key character who will reveal many of the series’ mysteries, while English Sean Teale, from a Venezuelan and Spanish family, plays Jordi, Erin’s husband. Barcelona-raised actress with British roots, Charlotte Vega, plays snobbish neighbor Penélope, and Catalan Pep Ambrós plays Emilio, Jordi’s best friend.
Filming in Barcelona in the middle of summer was certainly complicated, so for the car chases the production moved to Sitges. In any case, there is no shortage of emblematic sites and places that will be instantly recognized by those who see the series in the city where it was filmed.
