Simone Ashley thinks the movie industry has 'come a long way' in terms of diversifying

Simone Ashley thinks the movie industry has "come a long way" in terms of diversifying.

The 29-year-old actress stars in the new rom-com film 'Picture This', and Simone has admitted that she's always wanted to play the lead role in a rom-com movie.

The actress - who was born in England to parents of Indian Tamil descent - told Sky News: "I always wanted to play a character like that.

"So, when we got the script, I just jumped on it - because I wanted to fill those shoes, and kind of bring back that 90s rom-com world."

Simone grew up watching the likes of Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Anne Hathaway play the lead roles in rom-com films.

But the actress never really saw people like herself in those roles.

The 'Bridgerton' star reflected: "What was so important about this film is that we celebrated and enhanced the culture, and any aspects of comedy were just from the characters themselves - it wasn't making fun of the culture."

Simone admitted that she feels "super proud" of 'Picture This'.

She said: "This is a story that is a classic rom-com - and I want that to be the selling point, that's how we normalise this narrative.

"The billboards aren't 'Indian girl in the movie'.

"I'm just super proud, super pleased and I just hope that universally all women - not just South Asian women - can see themselves in this character."