Model-turned-actor Diana Penty feels modelling and acting are two completely different worlds. Talking about the two fields, the 27-year-old says, “They are very different, extremely different — the nature of the job and what is required from you. This (acting) is way more demanding and it has a lot more involvement — physically, emotionally and mentally.”

Diana started modelling in 2005 for Italian designers Trussadi and Ferre and later for Indian designers such as Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal and Wendell Rodricks. She debuted as an actor last year with Cocktail. Diana also shares how her inexperience in Bollywood proved to be a boon while the cast of Cocktail was being finalised. “I was from a completely different world, with no film background, I had no acting experience and no training. So I wasn’t sure what I was doing there exactly. I just knew I had to meet these people (Imtiaz Ali and Homi Adajania) and I didn’t know how I will tell them I am not at all prepared, but I want to meet you anyway,” says Diana.

She adds, “So all that hesitation and that I was absolutely not confident about myself, came through. It so happened that they were looking for somebody like that as the character had all of that in her, so I fit the bill.”

Diana was appreciated for her portrayal of a shy Indian girl Meera in the film, which co-starred Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone.