IT IS quite normal for film stars to be late for interviews. They swan into press conferences 30 minutes after the appointed hour without any explanation or apology. The usual standards of courtesy and behaviour do not apply.

Sure enough, at the allotted time of 5.15pm, there is no sign of Atta Yaqub, the Scots-Asian actor who made a big impact with his debut movie Ae Fond Kiss. He has another major role in the forthcoming Nina's Heavenly Delights, a light drama about food and love and just being yourself that will appeal to the same crowd that made Bend It Like Beckham and Billy Elliot such big hits.

Then, as I ponder the froth on my lonely cappuccino, my mobile phone rings and Yaqub assures me he is only two minutes away. I have hardly had time to put down the phone before he appears, as tall, lean and handsome when framed by a café window as he is on the big screen. He apologises, explaining that everything is a bit of a rush, because he has been away for a few days - not shooting his latest blockbuster movie, but mountaineering and canoeing in the Trossachs with underprivileged children. Atta Yaqub is not your typical film star.

With his natural charm and classically handsome features, he seemed destined for big things after starring in the contemporary Romeo and Juliet story Ae Fond Kiss two years ago, and might have taken on those exotic playboy and adventurer roles once filled by Omar Sharif. But Yaqub has so far resisted the draw of London and Los Angeles and continues to work with the Youth Counselling Services Agency on the south side of Glasgow, where he grew up, fitting in films and television when he can.

"I'm Glasgow through and through," he says, sitting down in the window seat and politely requesting fresh orange juice and lemonade. He is clean-cut and immaculately dressed- a smart jumper over a T-shirt - as befits a man who came second in Scotland on Sunday's Most Eligible list and still takes on the occasional modelling assignment. "Glasgow is great," he continues. "First of all, it's the people. I think there's such a beautiful mixture - ethnicity, race and colour. People get on with each other."

Yaqub was not an actor when Ken Loach cast him in Ae Fond Kiss. The director has made a habit of casting 'real people' in major roles and was determined to get someone from within Glasgow's Asian community to play the male lead in his interracial romance. Yaqub remains very much a part of that community, as a full-time youth counsellor and part-time film star.

It is a difficult balancing act. Most would say he is in the wrong place to pursue a film career. Others might add that he is in the wrong religion, and he admits some Muslims disapprove of the very notion of acting, never mind those intimate scenes with white women in Ae Fond Kiss and Nina's Heavenly Delights.

Yaqub is neither a typical film star nor an easy man to pigeon-hole. He is bright and articulate and studied business at Strathclyde University, but then opted for a job in social work. He has been criticised for seeming to apologise to Islamic scholars for appearing in Ae Fond Kiss, yet now he describes acting as "a marvellous opportunity". And, having passionately enthused about Glasgow, its people and his job, he adds that one day he may well move to London to further his acting ambitions.

His new film is about an Indian restaurant, and the tensions not between different racial groups, but primarily between different generations. It was inspired by the personal experiences of director Pratibha Parmar, who first visited Glasgow while working on a Channel 4 documentary and ate at an Indian restaurant where the waiters wore kilts and spoke with Scottish accents. She worked on the script with Andrea Gibb, the Glasgow-based writer of Dear Frankie and AfterLife.

It begins with Nina (Shelley Conn) returning to Glasgow from London following the death of her restaurateur father, from whom she had become estranged. He had reached the final of a prestigious televised cooking competition and Nina and her new business associate Lisa (Laura Fraser) decide to see the contest through. However, one of the other families in the final wants to buy the restaurant - and it was Nina's refusal to marry into the other family that caused the rift with her father in the first place.

Following his role in Ae Fond Kiss, Yaqub was an obvious choice to play Nina's brother Kary, who turns out to be secretly married to a white girl, Janice (Kathleen McDermott from Morvern Callar).

Although Nina's Heavenly Delights is essentially a lighthearted, feelgood film, it does not shy away from issues such as arranged marriages, interracial relationships, homosexuality and transvestism.

THE youngest of five children, Atta Yaqub was born in Glasgow 27 years ago. His father had worked his passage from Pakistan to Britain on the QEII, but died when the young Atta was little more than a toddler. The absence of a father may have contributed to what Yaqub admits was a very liberal home environment. His only acting experience was in a school production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when he was a sixth-year pupil at Shawlands Academy. He did, however, get involved in modelling work, strutting up and down the catwalk at London Fashion Week for Red or Dead, and it was through his modelling agency that he got the chance to audition for Loach.

Yaqub can relate to the story of interracial romance, having dated a white girl for four years. Even after all that time, he says, when they were walking along hand in hand, if he saw another Asian he would immediately disengage himself.

At first he kept the relationship secret from his family, though one of his brothers had also had a white girlfriend. "My brother actually ran away with a white girl many years back. This was when things were really strict. After a few years, when he had been away, my mum agreed to her coming over - 'As long as you're happy', basically. She wanted us to be happy." But Yaqub also says his brother and his girlfriend were driven apart by tensions in her family.

He maintains that many Scots-Asians lead two lives: a home life, where they are the dutiful son or daughter; and a second life, where they are increasingly ready to mix socially with white youths. "The parents would be thinking they're at the friend's house, but they won't be; they'll be in a nightclub. They're supposed to be going to college in the afternoon, but they are away with a girl."

Some white people make the mistake of seeing British-Asians as a single entity, all sharing the same outlook and views, when in fact there is as much diversity within the Asian community as any other, a point highlighted by Nina's Heavenly Delights. Several characters are gay and Yaqub says the older generation of Scots-Asians might share the same misgivings and prejudices as their white neighbours on the subject.

Nor is it only Asian youths who sometimes mislead their parents over their whereabouts, or their sexuality. But the tensions created by the generation gap are heightened by the differences between the cultural values within the family and the prevailing values of the wider society in which they live.

Nevertheless, Yaqub maintains that relations between Asians and the white population in Glasgow are much better than in many other British cities. "In terms of community involvement and community engagement, even the likes of the police, I think we are in a far better position than, for example, Bradford, where the BNP is trying to impose itself where it knows there's friction. In Glasgow that doesn't exist, and I'm proud of that. I feel glad to be part of Glasgow.

"There's no disillusion about 'if you don't have a job, it's because the white man has a job'. It's about putting in the effort for yourself and making it happen."

In Nina's Heavenly Delights, Yaqub's character is working in a cash-and-carry and wants to use the proceeds of the sale of the family restaurant to set up in business for himself.

He admits he drew on friends in Glasgow for the character. "I've got a lot of friends who are young entrepreneurs. When I was growing up I took the channel of education, going to university, whereas some of my friends went to work, non-stop, earning a good buck, and then set something up for themselves. A lot of my friends have done that and are doing very well for themselves now. They're driving beautiful cars and living in nice houses, but still have that family respect thing going on, looking after their families and enjoying their Glasgow life at the same time."

ONLY when I ask directly does Yaqub reveal that he currently has a steady girlfriend and that she is not Asian. He does not want to tempt fate by talking specifically about the relationship, but seems more open to the idea of interracial marriage than he did a few years ago when we first met - he said then he thought it unlikely he would marry a white woman, because he would want to bring his children up as Muslims.

"Obviously, you are going to face different challenges," he says now. "But at the end of the day it's up to the couple to work on that and the people around them to accept their happiness. I think Nina's Heavenly Delights shows that."

He thinks Glasgow may have been more accommodating towards Asian immigrants than other cities because so many families can trace their own roots back to Ireland - although that association has clearly not always resulted in harmony between different communities within the city.

Yaqub is a keen football fan and has SFA coaching qualifications. In 2001 he helped found a club, Glasgow Ansar, for Asian youngsters, but he is careful to steer clear of the sectarian divide. "It's an element in the west of Scotland that I'm not really proud of," he says.

He would support both Celtic and Rangers in European competitions, he adds. "We take our kids to watch both games if we can, but personally I'm easy either way." Glasgow Ansar is no longer restricted to ethnic minorities and has more than 200 members, from both sexes, various races and ages between eight and 45. Strathclyde Police did their bit to improve community relations by losing a challenge match 6-2 and one of the Ansar players has signed for Queen's Park.

The team is quite separate from the Youth Counselling Services Agency, although the two share many similar goals in terms of helping youngsters develop their potential, self-esteem and respect for others. Yaqub started working for the agency as a volunteer when he was a student and took a full-time post in 2004, shortly before Ae Fond Kiss was released.

"I've been working specifically with the black and minority ethnic community. That's involved working with drug and alcohol awareness, supporting the kids through careers advice and information, and guidance. It's all really worthy, emotional, challenging work. You notice a difference in people's lives."

After Ae Fond Kiss people did start to recognise him in the street. "There's a nice element to recognition," he says. But, when pressed, he admits that it has not all been good. I ask whether there is some disapproval among traditionalists. "I think there is," he begins, slightly cautious. "I know there is."

Eventually, he admits it has been suggested that, far from being a role model, he is setting a bad example to Muslim youth. "You can't help what people think. It might be through religious beliefs. But if you are given this massive opportunity, you try to utilise it to the best of your ability."

His acting experience has been helpful in his work. "I hope I can use my acting so-called fame to help support these young people, be it through inspiration, be it through workshops. We use a lot of acting techniques to help build confidence."

He finds youth work enormously rewarding, but is honest enough to admit he would have given it up if there was enough film and television work in Glasgow to sustain a full-time career. Since Ae Fond Kiss, he has appeared on several television shows, including the sitcom Meet the Magoons, though his career has perhaps been a little slow in taking off - James McAvoy, who emerged at much the same time, has gone from one high-profile film to another.

Nina's Heavenly Delights gave Yaqub the chance to work alongside and compare notes with Art Malik, the British-Asian actor who played Hari Kumar in The Jewel in the Crown more than 20 years ago, served as James Bond's ally in The Living Daylights and appeared alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies. It's an experience that has made Yaqub consider his priorities once more.

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