Today we’d like to introduce you to Dip Patel.
Hi Dip, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I am Dip Patel actor working in the entertainment industry for the past 7 years. I already knew I wanted to become an actor since I was in primary school. I was in many productions when I was in school, and I did many lead plays for talent shows, in 2008 I represented India at an International Folk Festival in Murfreesboro Tennessee, USA and then in Bangkok Thailand in 2011. I was the most different and funniest child in the class whom every teacher loves. I got this sense of feeling that I had an understanding of the character I played, and I was young though I knew how to deliver the most believable performance at such a young age I received several awards from different institutions for the theatre. I strongly came to know at one point of completely feeling into the skin of the character, and that’s it. After that, I never got tired of acting. I kept digging and learning more and more about acting. since I started that journey in 2016, I have been into films like Cheelzadap which is on Amazon Prime, I have done Television series like Ladies Special-season 2, Savdhaan India, commercials for Jeep cars, Skincraft, Jolly Blankets etc. I have been playing Nurse Raj recently on the NBC network show St. Denis Medical in LA. I started my journey as an actor from Mumbai, India, went all the way to New York for further studies in acting and soon shifted to Los Angeles. I have felt my self so proud of being constantly hustling and making my wings in Hollywood.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road to the best view always leads you from the hurdles. It is not easy, and it will never be; that’s life. When the monitor doesn’t show ups and downs of the heart rate, depicts no more life hence I always believed strongly in breaking my comfort zone and achieving what I have never imagined and that surprises me more than the dreams I have been seeing. Here’s the back story of how I got my first major film. One day, I decided to ring all the production houses’ bells in Ahmedabad with my new resume without a lot of experience in it. I did it for a couple of days, I used to travel 200 km a day to make that happen. I felt embarrassed, but that’s the only way I thought might help me get in the door. I didn’t get anything from anyone other than to send your profile or will keep you in mind. I was disappointed, one of the lows of my life, as I didn’t expect the way it’s gonna be. It ruins a lot of energy and time. Cut to one and a half years, I was back in Mumbai just to meet a friend of mine. I never thought I would be able to make it in the entertainment industry; on a sunny March morning, I got a call from the director of the film, Dharmesh Mehta, sharing all the information after my polite Hello… he directly told me what he was doing this film call Cheel Zadap I got your profile from the Abhishek Shah (casting company from Ahmedabad) and there’s stellar cast like Darshan Jariwala, Shushant Rajput, Jimit Trivedi and so on will you like to board the project. I was shocked and frozen if this was happening for real, I was not even able to answer the question. I said I let you know; give me just a few minutes. I cut the call, took a deep breath for couple of times and told my friend I got a call from Dharmesh Mehta should I just say yes, the answer was off course right away you should be doing this. I know now that all the energy, time, and risk that I took to knock on their door without any reference got me the film, which got released internationally and was partnered with Amazon Prime Videos. My career changed in a lot of ways after the film. Now, I have choices to pick the project.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My way of working as an actor, I feel very fascinated with my process as I find myself changing with every project. I believe every actor has a process and it’s very important to have a process to make the character alive in front of the screen. I understood a much more in-depth way when, in my research, I found that the camera can smell the character you play, meaning there’s lots more to the character study rather than just looking good and knowing your lines. I have been seeing some of the performances from all the great actor around the world and feeling a strong sense of their character development and truthfulness towards the craft. I feel proud that I am one of them who has found my process of developing the character from scratch. My process is a blend of all the acting techniques, imagination, and experience. It takes a lot of hard work to come to the point where you can rely on your acting technique, sometimes I doubt whether am doing it right or wrong but then the experience held me strong from the back and helped me sail my boat through. I always feel confident about what am I doing, and it comes from reading numerous books and watching films, theatres, and life experiences. As it said, the person you are is a thousand times more interesting than the best actor you could ever hope to be. The more human experience I get, the more interesting actor I become. I have tried several caps till now to just become a better actor. E.g, recently, I have been playing Nurse Raj for the show St. Denis Medical for NBC Networks. I know how to be the best doctor myself as I have taken care of my grandmother and I was always with her in the hospitals when she got ill; I keep my eyes on what doctors do, act, how they use the medical devices and to check what, how they plug it what procedure patients have to go before the screening and lot more, it was interesting. And then, I started to memorize the different names of the diseases and medicine for the cure. I keep my observation at the top most of the time as I believe actors are undercover spies of the world. It always helped me how to nail the characters I am playing.
I feel completely different from my sense of being an actor by filling all the blank spaces between the script and the final performance on the screen, from the reading session to the final cut of the project. I have made myself indulged in all aspects of filmmaking so can know all the ins and outs while I am on the set. For, I say I am reading the script and understanding the text, Then I start looking at the text with what emotional and psychological value is given to the character once I know that I know the character, and so I know the other character and the way they affect my character in the film, and so I know the social status, and so I know the backstory and all the information I needed. That’s my kind of process working on the character. I feel proud I can do this all, but without knowing the psychology, I wouldn’t be at this point in my career as an actor. I am a huge fan of psychology, and that makes me a different and unique actor. I have read many books and took the session to just understand what it takes to be a Human.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you, and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
COVID-19 turned this world upside down. I was in India, fortunately, in my hometown with my family, though my mom and dad were in Uganda, Africa. The day announced that the world is going on lockdown for a while until further notice. I felt stunned and stuck by the day, from the second day of the lockdown, I knew that this was not going to go any real soon and have to come up with something I love the most. I got my old computer and music system on, fortunately, it worked, I started surfing all the great actors and directors in the world. I made a list of the films that need to be seen and watched with the interviews of actors and directors, so I know what it takes for an actor and director to make those particular movies happen. My game plan got into strict action from the third day. I started to watch at least two films a day as I had nothing to do; I felt that I had opened up the world’s biggest treasure of film in my room I have been after a while watching Iranian films, Egyptian films, Korean films, almost all around the world was right in front of the table. I learned so much about the filmmaking process and of actors and their dedication towards the craft and once the lockdown opened, I was a different actor with acting techniques that never gonna learn from the acting institutes. It was such a practical on-set experience I was listing I don’t feel anything new while I am on the set now anymore. Covid gave me time to read some of the best books that I always wished I could read. It does not stop there, now I am in the USA I made four short films like, I Thought You Were…, ARTO. Pleasure Principle, and Not In This World Anymore. On my own, which are compete in film festivals.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dipactor.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/depppatel/
Image Credits
Shubham Dipen
