Check Out Rahul Joshi’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rahul Joshi.

Hi Rahul, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Was born in Bangkok just in time to welcome the 21st Century to Indian parents from the lesser-known state of Odisha (Orissa). The combination of my Indian genes with time spent in Thailand means I’m a hoot with hot wings. A couple of years later we moved to Dubai for about 10 years, then to Bengaluru, India where I finished my middle and high school. Then onto the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, and that’s basically where the decision to become a professional actor was realized!

But the seeds of it were planted when I first moved from Dubai to India. I used to be a very closed-off kid. I wanted to interact with the world around me, but I was too scared to and seldom felt comfortable occupying space. Fast forward to the end of my first year in India, there are these annual productions that schools put up as part of their own Annual Day celebrations. It was my first experience with acting and I got cast to play the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan. And an emperor doesn’t feel uncomfortable occupying space, in fact he demands it. Just getting into the skin of that character coupled with the fact that I’m an obsessive history buff meant that something about this experience was working for me, I felt strong, I felt like I had a voice and most importantly – I was having a lot of fun!

As the years progressed, I fell more and more in love with acting and joined a theatre troupe during high school and was given the chance to perform at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, one of Bengaluru’s largest and oldest theatres. My last piece of acting during that time was portraying Ms. Trunchbull in Matilda the musical, which beyond the 10kg prosthetics, I will always credit for giving me the taste of playing a juicy antagonist, an actor’s dream. In many ways, it felt like the right note to leave this acting chapter of my life on and to tell myself that what I now wanted was to go to college, get a job and have a stable life. But you can only pull a curtain over your own eyes for so long.

The three years I was in Rotterdam, I focused only on my business studies and completely avoided any acting which I felt would be a distraction. By the time I graduated, I could see the path my life was going to take and the thought of it made me realize that this is not what I want at all. Someone had once told me that you find your passion by seeing what do you do/think when no one else is around. For me, that’s always been storytelling and more specifically, acting. It was an exhausting, depressing and introspective few months before I finally decided that I wanted to pursue what I was passionate about and not what I think is the most practical choice for me. So with the blessings of my parents, faith in God and trust in my gut, I uprooted my life in the Netherlands and came to New York to train as an actor.

I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) and it wasn’t easy from the get-go, but for maybe the first time I felt like I was doing what was my vocation like this is what I was born to do and I’m on the path that was made for me. After finishing the two-year course, during which a lot of things had to be moved online due to the pandemic, I was given the opportunity to be a part of AADA’s Company, which would bring together a chosen ensemble of actors from the graduating batch for advanced training and the opportunity to perform three full-fledged shows in a safe, supported environment. It was fantastic because not only did I interact with some fantastic instructors, but also learnt a lot about myself in the shoes of a professional actor. My batch and I graduated just about a year ago, during spring the of 2022 and I can safely say that it better prepared me for the industry.

One year on since graduating, and I’ve been lucky enough to perform across the country in New York, Florida, Texas and Maine. God willing, I hope to someday add all 50 states to the list because each place has been stunning in different ways and has its own lessons, and my mouth waters at the idea of exploring more in the US through work. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but the people and these experiences live with you forever. Every time I get a chance to perform, I see and hear the way that the stories we tell inspire and affect audiences and I’m reminded of why I chose this path. With Guards at the Taj for example, the fact that a story about two South Asian guards, performed by South Asian actors and with a South Asian director, could move a primarily Caucasian audience in the middle of Texas is why we do what we do and it’s nothing short of magic. You as an audience member have no connection with any of us on stage, the director, the writer, and maybe even the circumstances of the story itself. And yet what they see on stage, which they know isn’t real, imbibes them with feelings and emotions that are very much real. That’s magic.

Right now, I just finished working on Queen by Madhuri Shekar at the Penobscot Theatre in Bangor, Maine and now waiting to hear back from the US immigration office regarding my extension. If things go well with my visa and I get to continue in the US, I definitely do want to actualize my dream and reach higher levels of success in this industry. But, there’s more to it now – having seen the South Asian talent across the US, I firmly believe that there is potential in telling stories that are South Asian, being told by South Asians, but yet somehow resonates with all in the US. That’s the charm a good story holds, and I want to see the onus of delivering these stories falling on more people that look like me, not just because we’re brown – but because we can show you brown stories of substance and depth that could redefine what being brown is more than just colors, spice and dance.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Well, the biggest struggle was honestly making the switch from Business to Acting. In the Netherlands, I felt a disconnect between what I was doing and what I wanted to do and that put me into a very depressive state for a long time. In my final year, I was working on an internship and my parents came to visit me and all they asked me was how was everything going. I had a full-on nervous breakdown in front of them for an hour and then had to clean myself up because I had to be in the office that morning. When I got back that day and for the months that followed, I really had to evaluate what I wanted from life. I was scared of what I was going to regret and was very stressed and was unfortunately also going through a horrible breakup, so all of it coming down at the same time wasn’t ideal … BUT when I finally made the decision of pursuing acting full-time, that sigh of relief hit like nothing else.

The fact that I’d decided I wanted to be an actor however didn’t mean that I was going to be any good at it. In fact, that was the second obstacle that I can think of. My bachelor’s was a Bachelor of Science in International Business Administration, and the fact that it was a Bachelor of Science meant that it was basically very technical. RSM drills into you a very left-brained thinking process where everything can and should be measured, quantified and categorized, the antithesis of the acting training I was given at AADA because it’s all right-brained, things are meant to be felt and can exist in an abstract. So I was great at breaking down a scene, but for months on end I just couldn’t understand what my acting teachers were telling me. I wanted them to break it down for me, tell me exactly at which point do I channel what emotion, and they just wanted me to exist. It was unnerving, I felt for a while that maybe I’d made a huge mistake, maybe I should cancel my enrollment now and get a portion of my tuition money back at least. But luckily I’m a little stubborn and I couldn’t let it go, so I pushed myself to let go of what I knew, keep the teacup empty and just take in what’s being told. Now I honestly count myself lucky that when needed, I can think with my brain and act with my gut.

New York City is an incredible city, unique and unlike any other, BUT you do understand why they say if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. It’s a tough city that breeds tough people and for this line of work, that is a constant source of inspiration. Rejections are part and parcel, but you still gotta wake up the next day and work. There was a point at the start of our advanced training at AADA company where me and my roommate were basically homeless for a month and only made it through thanks to the support of our friends. It wasn’t easy for us, but it was memorable and we look back on it fondly (for the most part).

The city’s charm can be very enticing, and so when I got the call to be a part of Guards at the Taj in Fort Worth, I realized that the dates meant that I wouldn’t just be leaving for a couple of months. I’d have to pack up all my things because my lease was expiring and basically move out of New York. It was a weird and anxiety-inducing feeling leading up to the flight, but I kept telling myself internally that it’s like being on a rollercoaster. It’s unnerving making your way up to it, but once you’re on that plane and strapped in, that’s it. You’re on your way and that’s just the way it’s gonna be, so might as well enjoy it. That was at the beginning of fall last year and I haven’t been back since, and while I do miss the city and its people constantly, there’s been so much to see and work across the US, and I’m sure eventually I’ll find my way back.

The later part of the year since graduating has definitely been the better part of the year in terms of working on gigs, but it didn’t start out that easy. Not a lot of agents are willing to take on clients on a one-year visa, I was finding my own confidence and got some rejections that were pretty tough to take. Eventually, you realize that as a working actor, your work is to find work. Rejections will happen, the point is to try and learn from them as much as possible. Allowing yourself to learn and be inspired at any and every time and place.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an Indian actor that’s done some theatre work around the US. I’ve wanted to do and been lucky enough to be cast as some great South Asian roles written as characters with depth and meaning to them, but that are also a different slice to the more typical representations of South Asians. These include Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph, Queen by Madhuri Shekar and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety (TEECE) by Kristoffer Diaz.

In Fort Worth (TX), StageWest’s production of Guards at the Taj ended up winning a few regional BroadwayWorld awards including Best Play, Best New Play and Best Ensemble Performance. But to be honest, what makes me most proud about that experience was the fact that this theatre wanted to put up this beautiful play with so much passion that it was as close to a dream project as I could’ve asked for, specifically because of how much I love this play and the playwright’s work. Then to also see that the work we put up could move people as emotionally as it had moved me was the cherry on top.

Working on TEECE was a single-handedly unique experience that I’m proud of, not just because I broke my hand training for it but also because it was just the type of show I never imagined myself working on. A play about pro wrestlers like the ones you see on WWE? Needless to say, I had doubts about myself to execute the work needed on the play (and kinda rightfully so), but the team around ended up being so dedicated to their work and flexible with me after the injury that I felt comfortable trusting them to do the show together, tweak some of the wrestling but keep all the fire, and it ended up being a great experience with some great folk. AND because of the injury, it ended up being the first show my parents got to see me in as a professional actor because of course they had to fly down the second I told them I broke my hand.

There’ve been some bumps along the way, and there’s still such a long way to go, but so far I look back on the experiences I’ve had with pride and great fondness. And inspires me to strive to not only be a better actor but also to take more steps in producing work that I know deserves to be produced. There are so many stories out there that deserve to be shared, I’m glad to have been able to give voice to a few of them, but a lot more to come. The work is a constant reminder in my belief that this is my purpose, it fuels me, and for as long as I can I want to continue to improve my craft, learn from people and experiences, and tell stories that either touch or tickle your soul, ideally both.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Literally any time my family and I would go back to Thailand because the food is unparalleled and always will be.

But I share a deeply strong relationship with Disney movies, to the point where me and my sister can basically recite Mulan verbatim. My elder sister has always been an annoying yet essential presence in life and we enable each other to be lame, that’s always fun.

She also used to give me every hand-me-down book she ever owned, and there were a LOT of them. Eventually, I found these comics that were made by an Indian illustrator named Anant Pai. There were ones that were educational called Amar Chitra Kathas, and ones that were more moral and funny called TInkle. Both of these sets of books became a strong cornerstone for us in life, sitting on a bean bag reading these in Dubai breathing in AC air because it’s too damn hot is basically the essence of my childhood.

Also, special shoutout to summers in Bengaluru, India because being a kid in India is incredible. It’d basically be an annual two months period of cricket, the pool, lunch, the mall, football (soccer), game, sleep. Heaven.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rahuljoshiofficial.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rahul.jughead/ 

Image Credits
Michael S Eaddy | https://www.instagram.com/michaelaeaddyphotography/ Evan C shipman | https://www.instagram.com/seriouslycantevan/ Mark Wyville | https://www.instagram.com/wyvillephoto/