Today we’d like to introduce you to Aneesha Madhok.
Aneesha Madhok, an actress and comedian, known for the play “Aliza-Free” will me making her Hollywood debut in the coming of age feature film “Bully High” as the main lead, which is about a girl who gets bullied in high school but in the end saves everyone. Aneesha found herself performing on stage since the age of four. “I felt that I could express myself better on stage than in ordinary life.”
I started out with dancing on stage and winning dance competitions solely by improvising on stage. I then went on to acting in school plays. I was initially discouraged about acting as my parents felt it would be difficult. At the age of seventeen, I secretly began writing my play Aliza-Free as my parents did not know.
In 2017, I staged Aliza-Free in New Delhi with a cast of sixteen actors, which aimed to create awareness about the problems faced by visually impaired people. It received a lot of attention from the media and was appreciated by the critics, which not only encouraged me but also my parents to let me pursue acting.
In 2014, I moved to LA to pursue acting and screenwriting at the University of Southern California. While in college, I became the president of the USC stand up comedy club, and I started doing stand up comedy shows all around LA. In 2017, I got selected as the finalist on Queens of Comedy in India during my visit.
After graduating in May 2018, I got cast as the lead in the play “Infidel” by Christopher Vened, which ran at Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. I was then spotted by director Billy McAdams Jr (known for Gallows Road), who attended one of the shows and cast me as the main lead in the coming of age feature film Bully High centering around bullying, which will release in September 2019.
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, lived in New Delhi and Los Angeles. Besides English, I also speak Hindi, Farsi, Spanish and a little bit of Hebrew. My travels and love for cultures has influenced my art as I created my own style of fusion dance of Ballet and Kathak.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There have been struggles along the way, but I would call them realizations since they made me and others around me realize how much I love performing and that I am meant for it. My struggles started since high school.
First, my parents did not approve of me pursuing acting. After seeing me perform in Aliza-Free, they and I were convinced. Furthermore, my high school did not have a dance club, and hence I started my school’s dance club. Despite that, I have had to battle against tradition and pave my own path.
As a comedian in LA, there are challenges in itself. A few people have told me without seeing me perform “you’re too pretty to do comedy” and I am surprised as to how people can assume that women with pretty faces cannot be witty, sarcastic and can joke about ironies.
Hence, I started hosting my own show called “The Mad Hawk Show,” and that increased my visibility as a comedian, which led me to book more spots in LA.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with El Tamim Productions – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
El Tamim Productions started out as a Theatre Production company and is now branching out into an independent film production company.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I am looking forward to the release of my movie Bully High. I know for a fact this film will inspire young minds and create awareness about bullying.
My future plans are to continue to do what I am doing, hopefully on a larger scale whether it is doing stand up comedy or acting. Currently, I am working with my co-writer Menachem Silverstein on a comedy pilot that also involves my friends and fellow comedians Audrey Stewart and Matt Rife.
I am also developing a coming of age feature film about an Indian American girl with my writing partner Ali Murtaza. As an actor, I have a need to tell stories, and I would like to see stories like the ones I am working on come to life to inspire people.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: aneeshamadhok
- Facebook: aneeshamadhok
- Twitter: aneeshamadhok
Image Credit:
Ash Gupta-838 Mag
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