Today we’d like to introduce you to Sai Lang.
Sai, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I first started performing as a dancer in Bharatnatyam (classical Indian dance) as a kid. I knew I wanted to be a performer in some capacity but I didn’t know where I would fit in, since I never saw anyone like me on American television, only in Bollywood movies. After I graduated NYU, I started acting in south India in the Tollywood industry (which is the same as Bollywood but with south Indian languages!).
I moved to NYC not long after and worked a bunch in procedural type shows, started improv classes at UCB and found my love for writing. When I came out to LA, I started doing characters at the UCB theater here and got on a character team, maude team and started an all-South Asian sketch team called The Get Brown.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think me and the word “smooth” have ever been in the same sentence! Most of my struggles have come from letting people put me in a box. Not literally obviously. But when it came to what kind of performer I wanted to be, I myself never could define it and I let others do that for me for years. I’m finally starting to see that I can create and perform the way I want to, and it doesn’ t have to fit a mold.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Over the years, as a dancer I’ve performed for dignitaries in India as well as all of my cousins’ weddings here in the US! I once did a 40 minute dance solo, which I’m pretty proud of. As an actor and writer, I’m currently working on a one woman show and most recently, I’ve been extremely proud of the work I’ve done with my sketch team The Get Brown– representing the first-generation experience of being South Asian. Right now we are doing a really fun monthly show called “Brownwashing Your TV,” where I get to do all three of the things I love– acting, writing and dancing. Our next show is Sept 5th, 9:30pm at UCB Franklin.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ucbtheatre.com/show/7516
- Instagram: @sailanguage
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