Life & Work with Anu Bhatt

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anu Bhatt.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started? 
I was born in London and grew up in San Diego. Although I always wanted to be an actor, I got really fascinated by languages in high school. I majored in Linguistics in college and studied abroad in France, and I thought I would end up working for the United Nations and becoming a translator. But the itch to act kept pulling at me, so I auditioned and was accepted into a master’s program for Acting in Chicago. After I graduated, I got an agent, and I worked in theater, TV, and commercials for about 7 years. I started writing and creating my own work, which has led to three screenplays, two one-woman shows, and one award-winning short film. Now, I balance acting with filmmaking and always try to incorporate some aspect of language in there as well. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not. There have been so many bumps. As an actor in Chicago, I felt like I wasn’t able to access the same opportunities or enjoy the same career trajectory as many white actors in the Chicago theater world. Plus, I felt I started “late.” That frustration led me to write. I wrote two one-woman shows between 2015 and 2019. My second show, Hollow/Wave, is an autobiographical exploration of mental health and its link to childhood trauma. I toured the show in several cities across the U.S., culminating in an off-Broadway performance in October 2019. However, I really burned myself out. I wasn’t seeing career progress like I imagined, and it made me bitter. I felt I had to do it all alone, and I couldn’t trust a team. I thought that if I don’t create opportunities for myself, who will? 

I moved back home to San Diego in 2019, completely burned out, and then the pandemic hit. It was a blessing in disguise (and I know I am fortunate to be able to say that the pandemic was any kind of “blessing.”) It offered me the opportunity to step away from what had become more of a burden than a pleasure. I reconnected with languages, taught English and French online, and started writing for the screen. 

Acting has always been a struggle financially. I’ve wanted to make money from it for so long, but even when I WAS working, it didn’t feel like it success. I always felt a lack of agency. Now, this is not to say that you can’t feel any agency as an actor. I’ve reflected a lot on this, and I believe I was operating from a scarcity mindset for a long time. I didn’t have the mentor to tell me that bumps, setbacks, waiting, and disappointment were part of the process. Instead, I saw each role I didn’t get cast in as a failure on my part rather than a long-term networking opportunity with casting. “Just work harder,” I would tell myself. No wonder I burned out. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar with what you do, what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m passionate about creating experiences that expand the awareness around what it means to be a South Asian-American woman in the U.S. My award-winning first short film, AutoCorrect, was born out of the pandemic, and it is truly a pandemic film (zero budget, shot on Zoom on my MacBookPro, entirely remote production crew.) It’s about an actor who confronts a director about her name constantly getting mispronounced. Currently, I am in pre-production (with a team!) for my second screenplay, Crossing the Desert. It’s about a queer South Asian woman who seeks the approval of her conservative immigrant mother and goes to surprising lengths to get it. 

I’m most proud of being courageous enough to create stories from scratch, again and again, and to share my vulnerability with the world. 

What sets me apart is that I have a surprising and pretty unique skillset, thanks to my cultural background and my varied interests. I’m a language enthusiast, so I speak French, Spanish, Hindi, Bengali and Korean. I’m also a Bharatanatyam dancer (Indian classical dance) and am very fluid and expressive in my movements. I also love to teach, and I have a language channel on Instagram (@speakamericanwithanu) that features “edutainment” videos with international speakers. 

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’ve run 6 half-marathons and 1 full marathon (Chicago.) Pretty proud of that, although my knees aren’t 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5948345/
• Instagram: @iamanubhatt, @speakamericanwithanu
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/anubhatt
• Other: https://vimeo.com/539916528

Image Credits
Rohan Mirchandaney
Crimson Cat Studios
Janvi Bambhania
Josh Sobel
Mayank Deogankar
Brave Lux, Inc.