‘Midwife’ miniseries to air on PBS

IF YOU WATCH

What: “Call the Midwife”

When: Sunday, 8 p.m.

Where: PBS

McClatchy Newspapers

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.

British actress Jessica Raine was rejected so many times from various drama schools that she was about to give up. In fact, at 21 she took off for Thailand to teach English. “I didn’t know what I was going to do with my life,” she says in a meeting room at a hotel here.

“It sounds kind of cliche to just take yourself off to Asia, but it was a big deal for me because I was quite lost, and all those rejections from the drama schools, I didn’t know how I was going to get into acting if I didn’t go to drama school. So it was testing [myself].”

In the process, the 30-year-old discovered she was stronger than she thought.

She got through, all right. In fact, Raine is starring in the six-part British miniseries, “Call the Midwife,” which reaches America’s TV screens Sunday on PBS.

She plays a novitiate in the field of midwifery serving with a group of nuns in the East End of London after World War II.

When she returned from Thailand she moved to London — with no job prospect in site. Briefly, she worked for British Telecom. “Oh, God I was just awful at my job. It was a help line for people who were having trouble with their Internet. I can’t even explain to you what I did because I don’t know what I did. I’d find myself on these conference calls and staying really quiet on these global conference calls. They’d say, ‘I think the problem is in London,’ and I was, like, ‘Helloooo,’” she whispers.

In hindsight, she says she’s glad she suffered all those rejections. “Because it makes you fight harder and you find out a lot about yourself when it’s not on a plate, given to you: ‘Here, go and do this.’”

Though she’s definitely less shy, she’s still private. “But the nature of the job is you’re constantly meeting people for auditions and meetings and also when you get the job, you’re constantly working with other actors, and you realize that you don’t get star-struck with acting. They’re all people, and they’re all working, and I have a lot of respect for them. This profession really opens you up, and I’ve gotten much more confident.”