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ITV News’ Entertainment Reporter Rishi Davda sat down with Olympic boxer Ramla Ali and the award winning actor, Jasmine Jobson, who is taking her story to the big screen. <\/p>\n
If you were to write down Ramla Ali\u2019s life story, it would read like a movie script. <\/p>\n
She\u2019s lived almost every emotion in her 37 years and now she\u2019s sharing them on the big screen.<\/p>\n
Born in the Somalian city of Mogadishu, Ali and her family fled when she was just a toddler after her brother was killed by an explosive during the civil war.<\/p>\n
By way of Kenya, they made their way to east London, arriving as refugees. It was here that she began plotting her path to success.<\/p>\n
Ramla was a toddler when she fled Somalia with her family Credit: Ramla Ali<\/p>\n
Ramla took up boxing as a teenager, as a way of keeping fit. She hid it from her strict Muslim parents because they wouldn\u2019t have approved on religious grounds.<\/p>\n
Her boxing career took off, and Ali found herself fighting for titles and even competed for Somalia at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s used her platform in a positive way, championing young women. <\/p>\n
Ali founded The Sisters Club, a non-profit organisation that offers free sports lessons to women of all races and religions.<\/p>\n
The activist featured on the cover of British Vogue in September 2019 as part of the \u201cForces for Change\u201d issue, which was guest-edited by Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
She was also named one of TIME Magazine\u2019s Women of the Year in March 2023.<\/p>\n
Her early life will be told through \u2018In The Shadows\u2019, which will premiere at London Film Festival on October 9th, with British actress Jasmine Jobson playing the role of Ramla.<\/p>\n
Ali thinks she was the right person for the part because they are \u201cboth council estate kids\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe grew up rough\u201d, she tells me as we sit in a screening room at the BFI on London\u2019s Southbank.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the rough neighbourhoods. We\u2019ve had to fight to always be seen and fight to always be heard. <\/p>\n
“We had to chip away at anything we wanted to do or be in life and I think that is where the similarity is. We both have this ruthless refusal to quit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali, right, punches Australia’s Avril Mathie during the sixth round of a women’s super bantamweight boxing in 2023 Credit: AP<\/p>\n
Ramla spent years convincing those close to her that boxing was her calling. <\/p>\n
Jasmine – who won a Bafta for her part in the Netflix show Tomboy – also had to prove her passion was worth pursuing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was \u2018oh but it\u2019s not going to pay your bills\u2019. You are auditioning and auditioning but is it going to be a long-term thing?” she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was working three jobs and auditioning at the same time. Follow your dreams. Just don\u2019t let nobody tell you no.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jasmine Jobson won the Best Supporting Actress award for Top Boy in 2024 Credit: PA<\/p>\n
Ramla has always had an eye on the next generation, a clear ambition to see others follow her in footsteps.<\/p>\n
As a Unicef UK ambassador, she\u2019s travelled to places like Jordan and Kenya to meet people like her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI basically want to show that we\u2019ve come from the same background and if I can do it, you can do it too,” she says. <\/p>\n
She is also keen to change the rhetoric surrounding refugees and those who leave their homes to come the UK.<\/p>\n