My name is Yasmin Taheri and I’m the founder and director of Missing Link Arts. I’m a British/Iranian actor and I’m from West Yorkshire.  I did the BA Acting Course at RADA and graduated in 2018. I’ve since worked as an actor in both stage and screen and also as a drama workshop facilitator. Missing Link is a plan that has been brewing for quite some time and I’m so delighted that it finally exists!!

I grew up in a small town in Yorkshire and knew very little about how to get into the acting industry.

I auditioned for drama school at a time when auditions cost around £50 for each school and I funded both the audition fees and travel myself.  What struck me both at the time of applying, and what became even more apparent during my training and beyond, is that I didn’t really know what I was doing.  I didn’t know anyone who had been to RADA before me, and I didn’t know of many Northern or Iranian graduates of the school.  Drama school and the industry in general felt like an impossible task, and something that wasn’t achievable. 

To have had easy access to this information, to have known what was out there and where I could find help, to have had connections with actors in the industry who had come from a similar background to me, would have dramatically (pun intended) altered my experience of applying to drama schools, my experience during RADA and my experience beyond.  I would have felt worthy of my place at the school and I would have felt like there was a place for me in the industry if I had decided not to do drama school training.

This feeling of worthiness and belonging is something that can come naturally to an aspiring actor who comes from a certain background; and I want to give that feeling to as many people as possible.  I want to level the playing field right from the start of this journey.

And that is why I have set up Missing Link Arts.  If you’re reading this, this is for you. 

Watch this space, there’s so much more to come….

Photo Credit: YellowBelly Photo