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There are tons of black girls modeling, and each one is special.

People called me 'Iman the black model'. In my country, we're all black, so nobody called somebody else black. It was foreign to my ears.

I really don't want to be known as a fashionista. I'd like to be someone more than that.

I want to establish myself as someone who can act and doesn't have to rely on my figure or modelling background.

I'd like to be the first model who becomes a woman.

So now I feel I'm lucky in the respect that I can sort of pick a little more carefully, which is tricky because as a black actress, there aren't that many roles to pick from.

I'm very happy to have the heritage that I do, but I'm not wanting to be 'the Latino actor.' I just want to be 'an actor.'

I want people to recognize me for the work I do now as a model, and not something I did three years ago.

As a means to an end, modelling was good, but I had to distance myself from it when I started working as an actress, because even though I wasn't high-profile, I found in my first write-ups that I'd be referred to as 'model Gemma Chan.'