B.C. actor Sandy Sidhu steps into the spotlight in new TV drama Nurses
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 20:00:59 +0000
Season 1 Premiere Jan. 6
When: Mondays, 8 p.m.
Where: Global
Sandy Sidhu recalls the audition for the role of Nazneen Khan on the new medical drama Nurses as being one of the easiest of her career.
“I remember getting the audition and not doing very much prep on it because, instantly, it was like a lightening bolt. I saw the scene, but I also saw the iceberg beneath the scene because I was like, ‘Oh, I know her. I know this. I know the story’,” Sidhu recalls.
Working in the industry since the age of 14, the Nanaimo-raised actor didn’t have to look far for inspiration for the character — a new-to-Canada woman from India learning the ropes of her first career and a new country, while also navigating the patterns of the home that she had left behind.
Sidhu knew Nazneen Khan well in advance of the first audition. Because, in many ways, Nazneen Khan was her mother.
Sandy Sidhu stars as Nazneen Khan on the new medical drama Nurses.
“My mom is actually an immigrant from India who became a nurse,” Sidhu says.
“She was raising three kids while learning English and putting herself through nursing school. My parents are my heroes, so I really did not take for granted this opportunity to play this role.”
Growing up on Vancouver Island with her parents and two siblings, Sidhu was aware of her mother’s career as a nurse but she never fully understood the depth of her impact at the hospital where she worked until she started hearing about it from others in the community.
“People outside of my social group would approach me and say, ‘Your mom helped my uncle’ or ‘Your mom helped my grandpa, and it really meant a lot to our family,’ and I would come home and say to my mom, ‘Oh, you know, so-and-so just told me about their grandpa and, apparently, you were his nurse,’ and she would reply, ‘Oh yes, he was a wonderful fellow’,” Sidhu says.
“That really stuck with me because I never really knew until high school — when people started coming up to me — how great my mom was as a nurse and how she was actually changing lives. And she never called any attention to herself. Ever.”
Safe to say that, when the opportunity came around to audition for the role of Khan on Nurses, Sidhu already had an opinion about the character, and who she could be.
“I really had something to say,” she says proudly. The audition, Sidhu recalls, involved two takes on tape. They booked Sidhu immediately.
“I didn’t even have to fly down for a screen test. It’s kind of unheard of,” she says, still with trace remnants of disbelief. “They said that when they saw my tape it was unanimous. They said, ‘That’s her.’”
From Entertainment One and ICF Films, Nurses is a 10-episode, one-hour, character-driven medical drama featuring a Canadian ensemble cast — Sidhu, Tiera Skovbye, Natasha Calis, Jordan Johnson-Hinds, and Donald MacLean Jr. — and is shot on location in Toronto.
The show, which has been picked up for a second season by Global in advance of the first episode premiere on January 6, chronicles the workplace and after-hours experiences of a group of young nurses.
“It’s really a coming-of-age series following five rookie nurses, fresh out of school, working the front lines of a busy downtown Toronto hospital, dedicating their lives to helping others while also struggling to also really help themselves,” Sidhu says.
While Sidhu’s character proved to hold strong parallels to her mother’s inspiring story — Sidhu says her mom is waiting excitedly for the premiere — she was determined to ensure that Khan also came across as her own unique character.
“In a way, my character was very much inspired by my mom, but Nazneen is in her own right, has her own voice, her own story, her own background that’s very different from my mother,” Sidhu says.
“But they have a complete parallel in that they are both very courageous pioneers that had to move countries to find a new life. And there’s a courage in that.”
Sidhu credits the show’s creator Adam Pettle, and its writers, for creating such “an authentic, grounded, funny, brave and courageous character” that, Sidhu says, honoured the personal “journey” that she was experiencing while playing her.
“I’m really still pinching myself. From day one, when I first booked the job until now, it has all felt like a gift,” she says.
“I got into the industry for a role like this, for an experience like this. To share a story that, hopefully, will connect people. That’s always the goal with any show or film. You want to bring people together.”
Sidhu is passionate about her goal of uniting. In fact, it’s a perspective she openly shares on her social media feeds, including on her Instagram @sandysid. On the account, the actor shares messages of self love and struggles.
“On social media, of course it is our highlight reel and of course it is where we celebrate our successes,” she says.
“But I try my best to lend an authentic voice in also sharing that we all go through struggles, we all doubt ourselves, and we all have the full range of emotions on a daily basis that I think are quite similar to one another. And I think that we all need belief in ourselves. We all want to hope, I like to think. And I don’t want to pretend.”
Sidhu points out that while she’s finding success in her career now — something she’s grateful for — she doesn’t want other actors, or anyone striving to reach their goals, to measure themselves against her experience.
“I don’t want to appear like it was just easy for me. I don’t want people to feel worse about themselves,” she says.
“I had no connections to the film industry when I started. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I honestly started just knowing that I love this and I’m going to give it a go. Luckily, I’m stubborn and I don’t give up. And thankfully, through the luck of life, I have been able to piece together a career out of this.
“I really want people to know and believe that they can do anything that they want to do. I genuinely believe that.”
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