Who Am I?

My Journey

To Becoming An Actor

At the age of seven I started to dance to Bollywood music. My parents thought I was ready for the Bollywood dance competition, but I didn’t make it past the national cut. I was heartbroken, dejected. But I later realized that if I wanted to succeed, I would have to practice dance professionally. After training in dance professionally for a couple of years, I performed a solo dance routine at a prestigious theater in New York City. This event was covered by T.V. channels. Those cameras along with the judges and the audience from New York City intimidated me so much that I forgot a few steps. I had practiced for hours and days. I was very disappointed with myself. But as time passed by, I felt that just being part of that event in itself was life-changing. My dance instructor saw some potential in me after that performance and she got me to perform in more competitions, talent shows, even weddings.

My confidence came from performing on stage at a young age. Before I began dancing, I had poor communication skills. But dancing has given me the confidence to slowly overcome my weaknesses by taking risks, like joining an acting class back home in Texas. I did not realize at first that the two were interconnected, but movement helped me express meaning with my body.

During an acting workshop, I experienced a major health problem: seizures. In the effort to prioritize my health, I took a step back from dancing. Dancing had given me the freedom and strength to express myself, now I had to take things slow and understand what was causing the seizures. After a year, my parents found out that the cause of the seizures was from a food product that had a chemical I was highly allergic to. During that process, my dad recommended me to train in Tae Kwon Do, as he believed it could teach me to have a positive mentality. After I trained for a year, I attained the blue belt rank. I had by now started participating in competitions, but I failed to be among the top ranks. Once again, I was frustrated by failure. But again, I felt that the top-ranked contestants had worked and practiced more than me and that's why they had achieved those ranks. I listened keenly to my master and tried converting the new techniques he taught into action. I trained carefully in sparring, weapons, and self defense with my master to become alert to the challenges that arise in competition. After understanding my mistakes, I regained my confidence to win in competitions and learned to have a more positive attitude.

 Aside from dance and Tae Kwon Do, I had decided to join choir during my freshman year at Hebron High School. I encountered solfege, diction, dynamics, and pitch, which were all new challenges. After a couple of months, I gave my first audition, but failed to get into the acapella group. I worked hard and auditioned for another choral group called Harmony the next year, which only twelve students could get selected for. Beyond my expectations, I was accepted to Acapella and Harmony. At the same time, I began participating in musicals where I developed a deep love for acting and was inspired to participate in acting classes outside of school. After doing more film classes, I became more interested in building a relationship with my scene partner and with the script in order to connect.

 When I look back at the failures I experienced, whether it was not winning in the competitions, the hardships and difficulties I faced in Tae Kwon Do, unforeseen seizures, not making it to the top in choir, trouble in communication - in all the negative situations I believed there was a positive force which pushed me to the next stage in life. This is the beginning of my journey to becoming an actor.

Belief

I was raised Jain, which is a religion that practices elements of both Hinduism and Buddhism. There are some elements of the religion that I believe in, like reincarnation, and others that I don’t, like the rule against eating vegetables because it harms insects. It’s sometimes extreme, but that said, I am vegetarian because of my religion. I believe that we live in a time when we can still get plenty of protein, nutrients, and more without harming and eating animals. I also believe that all the stories we hear about various gods are all interconnected in some way. Some of my favorite topics of conversation with locals in other countries like Spain, Sweden, India, Africa, and more, are their history, beliefs, and points of view. As story telling goes, I believe we all come from the same place, then spread across land to create societies and structure in order to survive. Religion, politics, and history are topics we can trace back thousands of years. I am interested in stories that call upon the past to address our current issues.

Physical Activity:

Ping Pong, Pool Table, Basketball