IF you were to sum up the essence of Jamie Marie Leary in a single word it would be “sunshine”. The actor, who is currently starring in the BBC One comedy drama Ralph & Katie, is bright and fun company.

She regales me with stories about childhood shyness, singing on the radio with her late grandmother and what it was like to grow up with roots spanning Scotland and Barbados.

Many readers will be familiar with Leary from her ongoing role in River City. You might also have seen her pop up in the Dundee-set crime drama Traces or gracing the stage in a raft of theatre productions – Expensive Sh*t, Locker Room Talk and 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War among others – in recent years.

Leary – who goes by Jamie in everyday life and Jamie Marie for work (“Years ago I had a mix-up and somebody thought that a boy was arriving …”) – moved from the Barbados fishing village of Oistins to East Kilbride when she was eight.

Scotland has been home ever since, although she maintains a strong connection to her Barbados upbringing. “I feel like a lot of mixed-race people have this thing of, ‘Where do I fit?’” she says. “I got to a point where I was like, ‘No, I am both. I am so proud of both these places I am from.’

“Being born in Barbados, that will always be my home, but as a 28-year-old with a very Scottish accent who has now lived here longer than I lived in Barbados, this is equally the place I call home.”

Leary was delighted to get to use her own accent in Ralph & Katie. The six-part series – which concludes this week – follows a couple, played by Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy, as they navigate the ups and downs of their first year of marriage.

Viewers saw the titular Ralph & Katie, who both have Down’s syndrome, celebrate their dream wedding in the third series of The A Word. Harrop and Gordy reprised their roles for the Lake District-set spin-off, leading a cast that includes Leary as Katie’s best friend Emma.

“When I first got the audition through, I was thinking, ‘I am going to have to do a northern accent, or a Manchester or Lakes accent’ – that sort of thing,” says Leary. “Then I realised, ‘Oh yeah, Emma could have just moved down here.’ People migrate, people move.”

Ralph & Katie is the brainchild of The A Word creator Peter Bowker, who has described his latest project as “a natural step forwards from the ongoing ambition of The A Word to increase representation and diversity both on and off screen”.

Leary says she is hugely proud to be involved in Ralph & Katie which, made with a diverse, inclusive and intersectional cast and crew, is breaking new ground for a UK television production, not least as the first BBC prime time show to star two lead actors with Down’s syndrome.

Showrunner Bowker worked on the series with five of the UK’s best emerging deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers – Genevieve Barr, Annalisa Dinnella, Amy Trigg, Lizzie Watson and Tom Wentworth – as well as Bafta-winning director Jordan Hogg, who has cerebral palsy.

There was a long list of additional protocols on set, with all cast and crew trained in working with learning disabled and neurodivergent talent. When it came to inclusive working practices, no detail was overlooked, be it easy-read call sheets or having everyone on set wear name badges.

Ahead of landing the role, Leary travelled to Manchester to meet with Harrop and Gordy and gauge her on-screen chemistry with the lead actors. The trio clicked straight away.

“As soon as I had the chemistry read, I thought, ‘This is one that is going to sting if I don’t get it,’” she says. “I really liked Sarah and Leon, as well as the director Jordan and the producer Jules [Hussey].

“I was like, ‘I hope to God that I get it’. I was so bloody happy when I did. I knew it was going to be a special show before we even began filming. It felt important from the start. Everyone was passionate about doing their best work.”

Leary is fast racking up impressive roles for her CV, yet it was only in her late teens that she decided to pursue acting as a career. “I almost left school in fifth year to study early education and childcare,” she recalls.

“I did drama all through high school and in sixth year I did advanced higher drama. It wasn’t until then that I realised that studying acting was a possibility. I knew about drama schools, but I thought they came with this crazy price tag that I couldn’t afford.”

She applied to Langside College (now part of Glasgow Clyde College), auditioned and was offered a place. After graduating in 2014, Leary quickly signed with an agent. She has since gone on to land parts in Casualty, Clique and The Nest, as well as the Scottish comedy film Where Do We Go from Here?.

Theatre is a big love for Leary. “I worked at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow in the box office as a part-time job for years, up until quite recently,” she says. “When I finally got the chance to go on stage, it was amazing. I have been lucky to do a few shows at the Citz now.

“It is always funny when you have a job in theatre, but you want to be on the stage. Because I knew the front of house and box office team, I had so much support from everyone when I finally got onto the stage.

“In 2017, I did Cinderella as part of the ensemble cast and as an understudy. Then in 2018 I joined the cast for A Christmas Carol and did that again last year. It is nice because the Citz is like a family.”

Leary is the second youngest of four children (she has two half siblings from her father’s previous relationship). “I am from a working-class background,” she says. “My mum was a home carer and my dad worked for social welfare and charity organisations. They are both retired.”

What was Leary like growing up? “I was the kid who was always running into the living room and saying, ‘Listen to this song …’ I probably wanted to be a singer before I knew that I could be an actor. From when I was very little, I loved singing.

“When I lived in Barbados, me and my gran, oh gosh, I am so embarrassed …” she says, trailing off and laughing bashfully. “We would phone this radio station and I would sing little songs for them. Hymns like Jesus Loves Me and Christian songs.

“I could do that sort of thing on the radio because there was no-one actually looking at me. I was quite shy. To my family, I was the goofball who would do all these silly things to make them laugh but that was in private. I wasn’t the best at doing that in front of anyone else.”

Even now, she shies away from the spotlight when not at work. “If it is in a play or on telly or I’m actually performing that is fine, but I am not the loudest person in the room by any means.”

Leary has fond memories of her early childhood in Barbados. “Oistins is right in the south. It is a wee fishing village and famous for the Oistins Fish Fry. Whenever anyone is going to Barbados I tell them, ‘You need to go to Oistins on a Friday night …’

“There are lots of little restaurants and stalls with music and such a good vibe. My gran’s house is only a three-minute walk away. I grew up all round there.”

Sadly, her grandmother passed away in 2020. Leary and her mother hope to make a long-awaited trip to Barbados early next year. “I haven’t been since 2015,” she says. “I want to go back and spend time there with my wee mum because 2020 was a crazy year.

“This year has been such a busy one for me with work as well. I started Ralph & Katie on Valentine’s Day and finished that in April. Then I started back at River City not long afterwards, so it will be nice to have a little break with my mum and touch base in Barbados.”

These days Leary is based in the south side of Glasgow where she lives with her boyfriend Tommy Reilly, a singer-songwriter/composer for film and TV.

Asked about future ambitions, she is sanguine. “I have been lucky the last few years that things have been coming along at the right time with the right projects and the right jobs. I feel that I am on the right path. Success, for me, is continuing to do what I love doing every day.”

Ralph & Katie, BBC One, Wednesday, 9pm. All episodes available on BBC iPlayer