Early in her career, Mod worked as a personal assistant at Condé Nast as her day job while doing comedy at night.[4][7] She studied acting at Theatrix Performing Arts of St Albans, based at the Abbey Theatre, St Albans. At Durham, she did sketch comedy through the university's Revue,[8] performing with Tom Harper at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and serving as the troupe's president in 2017.[9] She formed a duo, Megan from HR, with Andrew Shires.[10][11] She performs regularly at improvised comedy theatre The Free Association in London.[12]
Career
Following a series of short films, Fair Bnb, Granddaughter, The Sacrifice (aka Leila Margot) and Pet Name,[13] Mod appeared as a struggling junior doctor alongside Ben Whishaw in Adam Kay's medical drama This Is Going to Hurt (2022), based on his memoir of the same name.[14] The series earned critical acclaim.[15]The Hollywood Reporter’s Daniel Fienberg praised Mod as the highlight among the "regular female characters" and added that she made "Shruti's earnest fragility into the show's true heart"; however, he also acknowledged that her character is used more as a catalyst for Kay's actions.[16] For her performance, Mod was chosen for the 2022 BAFTA Breakthrough cohort and received the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress.[17][18] Through the programme for the former, Mod met Emma Thompson who became her mentor.[19]
In 2024, Mod played Emma Morley in Netflix's One Day, based on David Nicholls' novel of the same name.[20] It tells the story of two young people who meet annually for 14 years following a one-night stand. Mod initially declined the part due to the intense nature of her role in This Is Going to Hurt forming doubts about her ability to play a romantic lead.[21] Reflecting on her original decision, she said, "I think part of the reason why I just didn't see myself playing that part was because insidiously and implicitly, that's a message that I’ve been fed my entire life—that people who look like me aren't romantic leads, that people who look like me aren't the people who the male romantic lead will fall in love with".[22] Her performance received critical acclaim and the role proved to be a major breakthrough in her career.[23][24]One Day was the most-watched Netflix series globally during the week of February 12, with 9.9 million views.[25] Writing for The Guardian, Chitra Ramaswamy commended Mod as a "revelation", and added that, "It is hard to believe this is her first lead role".[26] Whilst discussing her character's alteration in ethnicity from the novel and the film adaptation, she expressed her hope that it would "open people's minds a little bit", and said she was "aware how significant it will be to a lot of people, especially young women of colour, young South Asian women in particular".[27]
In 2024, she was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 - Europe - Entertainment list, for her advocacy for industry representation as well as her performances in This Is Going to Hurt and One Day.[30]The Sunday Times named Mod as one of the 25 most inspiring people aged 30 and under in the UK and Ireland.[31] In late 2024, Mod was on Time Magazine's annual list of 100 emerging leaders shaping the future. Mindy Kaling wrote: "it feels like there’s nothing to make you sit up, lean forward, and say, 'Wow, I’ve never seen that before.' But that’s exactly how I felt when I saw Ambika Mod in [...] One Day.[32] Mod was named one of Harper's Bazaar UK 2024 Women of the Year, and was named their Breakthrough of the Year.[33][34] In November 2024, Mod was received one of British GQ's Man of the Year awards.[35]
