Interview: Ravi Patel

Some people know from the get-go that they belong in front of the camera. Others are late-bloomers. Then there is Indian-American actor Ravi Patel, who not only came onto the acting scene rather late in his life but was not even sure he wanted to be a thespian, despite landing opportunities left and right that many other people in his same position could only dream of getting.

Thankfully, the day finally came where things clicked for Ravi, as he is now neck-deep in his acting career and is landing significant roles that should open major doors for aspiring Indian-American actors who will follow in his footsteps for generations to come.

But until the day comes when the door is busted fully open and it becomes commonplace for Indian actors to take on mainstream roles on the big and small screen, Ravi is just happy to be living the life and pursuing what ultimately became a dream career.

And to think the 31-year-old actor pursued a career in investment banking after graduating in 2001 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Even worse, during his first year as an actor, Ravi considered just doing a few on-screen and stage gigs to hold him over until he got into law school.

“I had no plans to be an actor. I was an investment banker after school,” Ravi recalled as he spoke with Buzzine on the phone while he was waiting to board a flight from Wilmington, North Carolina to Las Vegas, Nevada. “I grew up in Charlotte, went to Chapel Hill, and majored in economics and international studies. It took me a couple years to admit to myself that I was an actor.”

After grappling with his new-found reality of becoming a full-time actor, Ravi suddenly found his thespian career on the up-and-up. Waiting at the Wilmington International Airport just moments after he walked away from the nearby Cape Fear Film Festival, where he served as the event’s chief guest and state’s returning prodigal son, Ravi delved a little deeper into his career epiphany.

His first brush with Hollywood and acting came in 2004, when he founded All-In Magazine, a poker-themed publication covering the card game during the height of poker days — the days when Hollywood was “obsessed with poker” and many actors were searching for ways to get in on the action.

Before Ravi new it, he was hobnobbing with a few Hollywood stars and slowly (but surely) putting things into motion that would result in adding his name to the list of successfully talented thespians.

“I kind of fell into it. A lot of things serendipitously happened at the same time,” Ravi candidly told Buzzine. “[In 2004] I was asked to serve as emcee last-minute and did 30 to 40 minutes of improv, then got several calls after that which led to other opportunities and ‘crazy convergence.’”

Among those opportunities of “crazy convergence” were six bookings of acting gigs by January 2005, including a successful audition for a short through Craigslist for a pilot project.

One thing led to another, and within a couple years, Ravi found himself securing a supporting character in Michael Bay’s Transformers and landing roles on mainstream television shows such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Scrubs.

Ironically, when he stepped onto the set of Transformers, Ravi confessed he was not able to recognize Bay. Even worse, the Indian-American actor recalled how he really did not make much of his future prospects as an actor, sometimes opting to play some pick-up basketball games instead of answering audition call-backs.

In fact, Ravi went so far as to admit he did not have a head-shot his entire first year as actor. “I just didn’t care. I got callbacks for auditions and wouldn’t go,” he sheepishly said. “It was like spring break and was waiting for the next step.”

Ravi thought that next step would be something like law school, what with this acting stuff just keeping him busy until he figured things out.

Then he started to pay attention to what was going on around him, and Ravi finally admitted the fact that he was full-time actor.

“The world was telling me to give this a shot. So I told myself, ‘Let’s give this a chance for a year and see what happens.’ A few months later, this became full-time,” he frankly told this writer. “When I first started off a few years ago, everything stood out for me because I was so new … I wasn’t a trained actor, but I just learned so much.”

One thing he jokingly told Buzzine he learned was how to rely upon his investment banking experience to manage his own career.

“I run my career like a hedge-fund. I diversify my opportunities and minimize my risk!”

All joking aside, Ravi added that he feels blessed, lucky and fortunate to have realized he was onto something special as a thespian — and that epiphany may be paying off for him in the near future.

In addition to working on a documentary project with his sister, Ravi also secured lead roles on two new television series — Showtime’s Look and Fox’s Nirvana.

The latter sitcom is the opportunity that may very well make Ravi one of the most influential Indian-American actors of his generation, as it is the first-ever Indian-themed program on network television.

Fox’s Nirvana also stars Rachel Leigh Cook, who plays the girlfriend of Ravi’s character in the program.

“It’s basically Everybody Loves Raymond but with Indians,” Ravi briefly explained about the show before delving into details on how he landed the lead role. “I knew the show was in development for a while. I was anticipating the project but I didn’t think I’d get it, and it was a mixed blessing” (because his previous Fox show, Past Life was canceled).

Yet get the role he did, and Ravi is now a part of history — a history he believes was well-timed considering the number of Indian actors already securing regular roles in many mainstream television programs such as Scrubs, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Chuck, House, Parks and Recreation and The Big Bang Theory, to name a few.

“This past year has been phenomenal for Indian-Americans. It’s a great time for us to be in the industry,” he proudly proclaimed as an airport employee could be heard in the background making a flight announcement. “Almost every major television show out there has an Indian in it. We are almost a saturated commodity, and it’s great to see. We now have two Indian-themed shows on television (including NBC’s Outsourced).”

With Ravi in his own “Nirvana,” thanks to his serendipitous career choice, he is now at the forefront of a new frontier ensuring Indian actors will never be “Outsourced” in Hollywood and canceled into the “Past Life.” Indeed, should Ravi’s career continue its upward trajectory and eventually stabilize in the upper stratosphere of success, the day will soon be here when audiences will always take a “Look” at Indian actors when they yell “Showtime” on any given Hollywood set.