India Brown Steps Into Her Own With Apple TV+’s Invasion

From Young Nala on the West End to a global sci-fi stage, the 20-year-old actor reflects on resilience, growth, and why even the smallest voice can make the biggest impact.

When I meet India Brown over Zoom, she greets me with a smile that makes her instantly magnetic. That sense of easy optimism, of finding brightness even when the skies are grey, lingers throughout our conversation. It’s the same quality that has carried Brown from her beginnings as a child performer to starring in one of Apple TV+’s most ambitious sci-fi dramas, Invasion. 

Photography: David Reiss. Hair: Nicola Harrowell. Make-up: Joy Adenuga. Stylist: Prue Fisher.

Brown, now 20, is years into an acting career that began in childhood, yet she still speaks about it with wide-eyed gratitude, as if she can’t quite believe she gets to do what she loves every day.

“Honestly, I feel super grateful,” she says. “Nine-year-old India wouldn’t ever believe where she’s at right now.”

Many viewers will have first met Brown on Hetty Feather, the CBBC adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s novel, though, at that point, she had already graced the West End as Young Nala in The Lion King. But her defining moment came with Invasion, Apple TV+’s ambitious, globe-spanning sci-fi series, thrusting her into the global spotlight.

“The scale just felt bigger,” she recalls. “It was the first time I’d go abroad and people would recognise me. I remember someone stopping me in Costco. I thought they were a family friend, and then they said they’d seen me on Invasion. That was the moment it hit: people are really watching this.”

Photography: David Reiss. Hair: Nicola Harrowell. Make-up: Joy Adenuga. Stylist: Prue Fisher.

For Apple TV+, Invasion is part of a strategy that has often flown under the radar: prestige sci-fi as cultural musing. The streaming service may not always dominate social media conversation the way Netflix does, but its shows carry a distinct weight. Think Severance with its allegories of late capitalism, or Silo’s dystopian claustrophobia. Invasion slots neatly into that roster. It’s a story about aliens, yes, but it’s also about the messy resilience of human beings.

“It’s about humanity,” Brown says. “We all have flaws. Sometimes we fail, but we get up and try again. It’s about coming together for the greater good.”

That resonance feels especially acute post-pandemic. In its first season, Invasion mirrored the isolations and anxieties of global crisis; in its third, it pivots toward the power of collective action. Jamila, Brown’s character, embodies that shift. “She’s had to mature so quickly,” Brown says. “She’s become the adult she needed, and this season she really steps into her own. She’s headstrong, powerful, and selfless in the face of saving humanity.”

For Brown, Jamila’s arc has been both a professional milestone and a personal evolution. “In season one, I was a supporting character. I never imagined Jamila would grow this much. To stay with a character for five years and see her arc expand has been so rewarding. Every season the writers push her further, and every season I learn something new.”

That long-term character work is increasingly rare in television, where short-lived series are quickly becoming the norm. Brown is acutely aware of the privilege. “Being on set with such talented people, seeing how acclaimed actors carry themselves with humility, it’s inspiring. Every experience informs the actor you become.”

Photography: David Reiss. Hair: Nicola Harrowell. Make-up: Joy Adenuga. Stylist: Prue Fisher.

India’s own story began earlier than most. At four, her mother signed her up for Stagecoach, where she sang, danced, and acted every week until she was eighteen. At nine, she auditioned for The Lion King. “That was the first show I ever saw,” she remembers. “I watched Young Nala on stage and thought, I want to do that. To end up playing her was such a full-circle moment.”

From there came Birds of a Feather, her first speaking role on television, followed by a steady stream of film and TV projects. But Brown insists that while her path looks seamless in retrospect, it hasn’t been without struggle. “This industry can be daunting and overwhelming,” she admits. “I always tell myself: if it’s meant to be, it will be. Not everything is for you. And that’s okay.”

What sustains her is a belief in community. “I love supporting my friends when they succeed, even if I don’t get the job,” she says. “We need to celebrate one another. Sometimes it’s your season, sometimes it’s theirs.”

For all its alien spectacle, Invasion’s cultural staying power lies in its human core. It’s a show about ordinary people navigating extraordinary circumstances. As Brown points out, the series’ insistence on showing flawed, frightened, hopeful characters resonates because it’s recognisable.

“Younger audiences in particular can see themselves in Jamila,” she says. “She’s always being called a kid, but she lost the ability to be a kid when the invasion happened. She had to step up. Even the smallest voice can make the biggest impact.”

That impact extends offscreen, too. As streaming services continue striving to chase blockbusters with endless budgets, Invasion exemplifies a subtler kind of ambition: a genre show that refuses to abandon character in the name of pageantry. Brown’s performance sits at that intersection, she carries both the weight of the story’s scale and the intimacy of its human core.

As season three unfolds, Brown teases more action, bigger stakes, and an even sharper focus on collective survival. “The writers have really elevated it in a way I don’t think audiences are expecting. I think they’ll be blown away.”

As our conversation winds down, I ask Brown what she wants people to think of when they hear her name. She pauses, then answers with characteristic sincerity. “I’d want them to think of someone who chased her dreams and did it with positivity. I’ve always tried to live my life with grace. What you see is what you get: I’m the girl next door.”

It’s a fitting description. India Brown is still the girl who once dreamed of being Young Nala. But through Invasion, she’s also become proof that even the smallest voice can carry the weight of a global story. India Brown has grown up in front of our eyes, and yet it feels like she’s only just stepping into her own.

New episodes of Invasion season 3 drop weekly, every Friday through October 24, 2025.