JOHN SINGLETON - MIA ONCE EYED A CAREER AS A FILM-MAKER

British rapper MIA gave up a potential career as a movie director to pursue music - even after catching the eye of acclaimed film-maker JOHN SINGLETON.

The GALANG rapper - real name MAYA ARULPRAGASAM - idolised SPIKE JONZE during her time spent studying at film school, but she decided the profession wasn't for her when Singleton encouraged her to make a crack at Hollywood.

She says of her decision to study film, "It seemed perfect because I had met so many people that needed a voice.

"I couldn't make a painting and bring it home to my mum. She'd go, 'Why waste time slapping paint on a canvas when you can go get a job in a bank and help pay my rent?'

"That's the mentality in Sri Lanka. People say, 'You live in England? That's amazing, you can work 23 hours a day without getting hot.'

"Anyway, I wrote a script and I met John Singleton, and he was like, 'Come out and work in Hollywood.' But I was more into HARMONY KORINE and DOGME 95, radical cinema."