AN ACTRESS from Newport is appearing in a new short film about her own experiences growing up as mixed-race and her struggle to identify her heritage.

Alexandria Riley, who appeared in The Tuckers and In My Skin, appears in the short film Mixed, in which she speaks of her struggle with being asked the question “where are you from?”

During the film Ms Riley, who was born in Newport to a white, Welsh mother and black father from the Caribbean, is seen speaking to other mixed-race performers, as well as her son Evan, about their own experiences, and takes a DNA test to learn her true heritage.

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Speaking in the film she says: “Because I don’t look like I should be from here, that’s where the anxiety starts.

“I was born and raised in Wales, and that’s all that should matter to the conversation.

“What difference does this actually make to how Welsh I am or how Caribbean I am, or where my heritage is?”

She adds: “I’ve never been taught my own history, never thought to research it myself.

“And, with the majority of my social circle being white, I never really felt I had the opportunity to have that conversation.

“As a teen you think ‘ah well, it’ll be different when I grow up, everything will figure itself out, become clear’. But now, with my teen years long gone, why is it I still can’t find a confident and comfortable answer to that question.”

Mixed, part of the New Voices from Wales series, was partially filmed at Newport’s riverfront and at Tredegar House, and will be broadcast on BBC Two Wales at 11.15pm on Tuesday, March 5, and will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.