Though only in her early twenties, Zaraah Abrahams has already been working as a professional actress for close to a decade. The eldest of three children, she was born to parents of Iraqi and Barbadian decent on her mother’s side and of Jamaican descent on her father’s side. Zaraah grew up in Brixton, South London and initially got into acting as a weekend hobby. “My mum kept us really really active as children and we went to ballet…every Saturday.” Zaraah attended Italia Conti Stage School for her secondary education, “there was an agency attached so they just sent me out for lots of auditions so that’s how I got into acting professionally really. It was just a fun activity to do on a Saturday that I really enjoyed.”

At just 15, she landed a role playing Magda in the CITV show Girls in Love, “I was working there during the week and coming home on the weekend.” Being so busy and independent from such a young age would cause anyone to grow up quickly but according to Zaraah “when you’re that young you don’t really question it, you just do as you’re told and then one day you realise ‘wow, I was mature for my age’.” She concedes that she was more mature than most people her age “because it was an adult’s world and certain things just weren’t acceptable – I had to be professional really. I didn’t make a conscious effort to be different. I just had to learn quickly.” Although some would say that Zaraah began her professional acting career fairly early on, when asked if she feels as though she missed out on her childhood, she happily replies “no never.”

Given the fickle nature of the business, the life of any actor or actress is never easy and the road to success can be grueling and paved with countless knockbacks. In terms of the journey, Zaraah has found it “probably the same as anyone in their career, you have amazing times and low times and you have challenging times but I’ve been extremely blessed that I’ve been working for such a long time.” Longevity is what most people hope for in their careers and for Zaraah “it’s been a fun journey and I hope that it just continues. Like anything I find it challenging at times but you’ve just got to keep going.”

Almost two years ago Zaraah took part in ITV1’s Dancing on Ice. She replaced Michael Underwood after his injury and her partner was skater Fred Palascak. Together they managed to reach the semi-final and despite being the favourite to be voted off, she came third and eventually made it to the shows final. Sadly she did not win but Zaraah gained a lot from taking part in the show. Since then she says “I have been skating but not like proper skating. I haven’t been twirling in the middle of any ice rinks! It’s a bit strange without Fred actually. I do enjoy it and I learnt so much from it so I will definitely always keep it up.”

In the same year she appeared on Dancing on Ice, Zaraah made her debut on the BBC’s Waterloo Road where she played a student named Michaela White. When she first started playing Michaela, Zaraah found it difficult because there was a notable difference between the ages of the character she was playing and her biological age, “when I first put on the uniform I actually burst into tears. It was just so strange seeing myself in uniform again being like 22 years old or however old I was. But it did actually make me feel a bit nauseous.” As disturbing as the experience may have been initially, Zaraah enjoyed the challenge, “especially because I wasn’t that kind of teenager either. I wasn’t rude and I wasn’t bolshie so it was good playing that kind of character definitely. It was great because she gets away with a lot.”

Over the years Zaraah has had continued success so to pinpoint one single highlight would be difficult for most. As far as she is concerned “every moment’s a highlight really. Every time I get a phone call to say that I’ve got the part over millions of girls who have auditioned, I feel proud of myself.” Getting first-rate parts is half the battle won for any actress and playing that part convincingly is the other half. One of the best aspects of her career is “definitely when my family and friends are proud of me after seeing the outcome of me being away – I think when I get to sit with my family and they can watch what I’ve done, that’s definitely a highlight for me. But every job has been fantastic. I’ve been lucky enough that they’re all as good as each other really. But when I start working with Will Smith I’ll edit that and you can say that that’s my highlight instead!”

Working in any capacity with greats such as Will Smith would be the highlight of most people’s careers but in order to make that dream a reality it would require transitioning from British television to international movies which Zaraah seems keen to do. “Even though British film is on the up, I think America is still where they set that bar and I think if you want to be an actress that plays all sorts of different characters then that’s the place to be.” The American movie industry is big business and as Zaraah rightly points out “they produce so much a year so it would be stupid not to go down that road. Well, you don’t have to go but I definitely want to expand my career as an actress so that’s where I’m going to head.”

While it would be a shame to lose such a talent from our fair shores, Zaraah’s hard work and drive is testament to the fact that she is destined for big things. 2011 is going to be quite a busy year for her as she’s been writing her own television drama series, “so if I keep pushing and pushing you might see a television programme written and produced by myself.” She also plans to bring her plans to appear on the big screen to fruition through “lots of news about auditions in LA. [2011 will be] another milestone so it’ll be good.”