Jimi Mistry: 'Strictly Come Dancing stopped me hiding'

Jimi Mistry has credited Strictly Come Dancing and his subsequent relationship with professional partner Flavia Cacace for liberating his true character.

The West Is West actor admitted that he had become accustomed to "hiding' behind his public persona before participating in the BBC contest last year.

"One reason I did the show was to just be myself," he told the Daily Mail. "For the last 16 years since becoming an actor I'd been hiding behind these personas.

"I remember my mum saying to me when she watched Strictly, 'It's the first time I've seen James for as long as I can remember.' And that was it - I was James, which is why I was gutted when we got voted off last year."

On his five-month romance with Cacace, he added: "We met at exactly the right time... It was obvious it was great between Flavia and me but we didn't get together until after the show. She gets on very well with my daughter, and neither of us over-analyse things."

Mistry further confessed to being unsatisfied with several aspects of his life prior to Strictly, and opened up about his divorce from wife of five years Meg Leonard last year.

"All the major components of my life just didn't make sense - the career, being a husband, the issue of my dad. I was successful but I wasn't happy. went off to do a film, came back and didn't feel like acting any more.

"Meg and I had tried everything to make our marriage work, but it had got to the point where it was best I left - and that's what happened."

Watch Jimi Mistry and Flavia Cacace on Strictly Come Dancing below: