“Tell the Industry What You Want. Not the Other Way Around.”

Two years ago, Jim Duah was a musician who had fallen out of love with music and was doing TikToks that weren’t going anywhere. Today he’s a working professional actor who has performed in London, toured to China, and is currently in Summer Holiday at the Crucible in Sheffield. Kate Maddison-Greenwell - who knows Jim from a short film they made together in 2025 - sat down with him to talk about how it happened, and what he’s learned along the way.

TLDR: From musician to working actor in two years: Jim Duah on finding validation in the right place, booking his first professional show from a Facebook group, sitting alone in a dark room after a performance he thought was terrible, and why the hardest thing he’s done is tell his agent no. Plus: his advice for anyone thinking about making the leap.

Cast your mind back to when we met two years ago. What were you thinking at the time? What was going on for you?

I was a musician, and I’d been doing it for years. But I’d kind of fallen out of love with it. I then moved to Leeds for my PhD. I looked at a few acting companies in Leeds, Leeds Art Centre came up, and they had open auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I thought - I’ll go. I went in for one of the lovers, and they cast me as Oberon.

And honestly, I think I was looking for validation through something. I’d worked really hard at music and I hadn’t got to where I wanted to be. It took me a long time to accept that I just don’t have the natural ability for music to be the thing on its own. But the only way I could come to that conclusion was if I had something where I did get that validation. Through acting, I got it straight away. I took it really seriously from day one. I got an acting coach immediately. I wanted to take the craft seriously  and work hard on it.

And then things seemed to move quickly looking from the outside. Eight short films in the first year?

Eight short films, all through Facebook groups. That’s how I got everything in that first year. I was just saying yes to everything, building reel material, getting on Spotlight, working towards getting an agent.

The big one was when someone posted a screenshot - I don’t even know how I saw it - of a casting breakdown for a play  called Sharing is Caring: The European Dream at Theatre Deli in London. The character was called James, late twenties, played guitar, northern accent. I looked at it and thought: that’s my role. I just had a feeling. I emailed the director and producer directly - I didn’t have an agent at the time - and I basically begged them to let me audition. They said fine. I did it with a friend I’d met on my first short film. I got a recall. That was my first recall in London.

I went down, sat in the waiting room - people in leotards, humming and stretching - and I thought, I am completely out of my depth. I went in, did it twice, they seemed happy. Then the assistant said thank you, you can go, and I thought I’d blown it. And then I got home, and the next morning there was an email. I’d got it.

Was that the moment it all clicked?

Jim rehearsing for Summer Holiday - photo credit Becky Payne

One of the cast had an agent called Leoni. I thought my performance had been absolutely terrible, so after the show I didn’t go and mingle. I just sat alone in a dark room backstage. But she returned my email, said she’d be interested in a meeting, and I signed with her.

And then it went quiet. Six months of auditioning and getting nothing. I genuinely thought my agent was going to drop me. I thought: I’ve been in the industry for a year, I’ve reached my limit, that’s the end of it. And then I booked Macbeth with the Australian Shakespeare Company. Then in the same week we opened, I found out I’d got a role in Murder on the Orient Express - and we were going to China.  When the plane landed, I took it off airplane mode, and there was an email saying I’d been offered a show at the New Vic. At the end of the New Vic run, I booked the Crucible. Over the last year I have not stopped working.

But that first six months - I was so stressed. Imposter syndrome, the lot. 

Is there a moment where you felt like you’d genuinely become a working actor? Where it landed?

I don’t even feel that now, honestly. I still just feel lucky. Like I won a raffle, but will I win the next one in three months? It’s a funny thing. 

That’s the beautiful thing about it, though. I had no idea last year that I’d end up in China and Stoke and at the Crucible. Any email at any moment could change your life. I don’t know any other job that works like that.

What’s been the biggest challenge? 

Jim rehearsing for Summer Holiday - photo credit Becky Payne

The hardest thing has been the power dynamic. When you start out, it feels like you’re at the bottom, and the industry is up there deciding whether you exist. Most actors feel that. But I think there’s a pivotal shift that has to happen - realising it actually works the other way. Having the confidence to tell the industry what you want, rather than letting it tell you.

When I first got my agent, she threw everything at the wall. I just wanted to work, so I went along with it. But once you start working, you realise this is your living, and not all of it is for you. Some of it you genuinely don’t care about. Some of it pulls you in a direction you don’t want to go.

I’ve done so much theatre now that I want to pivot into screen. That is really hard to do when you’re still waiting for the industry to answer. But it already happened to me in music - I let the industry shape what I was doing, I stopped caring, and I fell out of love with it. I will not let that happen with acting.

It’s an art form. We’re reflecting society. Art is a criticism of life - we’re doing this to say something, to further humanity in some small way. That means being involved in the right stories, working with good people. , That’s really  the job.

Speaking of which - the industry doesn’t have a great reputation for how it treats people. Is it getting better?

There are so many dynamics at play. If you’re a woman in the industry, if you’re a person of colour - the experiences are  different, and the question of which characters you play, which stories you tell, that matters. I’ve had experiences where I felt people weren’t treated appropriately, and that’s where organisations like Equity become really important. At actor level it feels progressive. Higher up there are still questions around representation and who gets to make decisions.

If you could have played any role that already exists, what would it be?

Girls. The HBO series. I’d have loved to have been in that universe. The characters are so distinct, so well written - it says so much. That’s a generational show. Something of that calibre is what I’m looking for - a story with something real to say. 

What advice would you give someone thinking about making the transition to professional acting?

Treat it like a business. Take your craft seriously. If you have both of those things, you’ve got a real chance.

Build a life and a confidence outside of acting. Don’t let it be a thing that defines you until it absolutely has to be. Expect that you won’t get anywhere for a while, and find a way to enjoy the journey anyway. Because the journey is most of it.

And what’s next for you?

Finish this run, and then I’ve told my agent - no more theatre until the end of the year unless it’s something that genuinely moves my career forward. I’ve had some fantastic theatre opportunities and I feel ready to focus more energy on screen work while remaining open to exceptional theatre projects.  When asked about the roles he’s got his eye on: “I did tell my agent this at our very first meeting. She asked what I wanted from the industry and I said I want to be the baddie in Gladiator 3 and I want to be James Bond. She just looked at me. Yeah, sure. Amazing.”

You can get tickets to Summer Holiday here.

Summer Holiday at The Crucible in Sheffield Saturday 20 June - Saturday 18 July

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Jim is the kind of actor Rise & Howl was built to champion - someone who got in the room, took it seriously, and kept going when the quiet months made it feel like it wasn’t working. We’re proud to know him, and we’ll be watching that screen career very closely.

Rise & Howl Collective is a Leeds-based theatre production company founded by actors Kate Maddison-Greenwell and Paula Boyle. Our next production is The Shroud Maker by Ahmed Masoud, directed by Julie Domaille - a one-woman black comedy about an 80-year-old Palestinian woman who makes shrouds for the dead.

 25 July 2026, Seven Arts, Leeds. 

31 July 2026, Hebden Bridge Little Theatre

We are also putting on our own new play - Trappings - that we are taking to the Edinburgh Fringe. Previews at Ilkley Playhouse on 27 & 28 November 2026.

Tickets for all shows at www.riseandhowl.co.uk.