We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aishu Nagasunder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Aishu , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

This question is one that I think about every so often. I am still very young, so I have struggled with the idea of committing myself to a career that is known to be pretty hard to break into. Throughout my life, I have thought about many different career paths—in early high school, I was pretty seriously thinking about pursuing something like biomedical engineering. I knew that the career would be stable and provide me with a decent amount of money, but I also knew that I would not be really happy doing it. I have always struggled with the dilemma of choosing a path that is financially stable versus one that I am passionate about that would make me happy. Ultimately, I decided to do a double major in Theatre Arts and Communication Studies. I have also always loved interpersonal communication and journalism/social media management, so the double major would allow me to have a “back-up” that I was still interested in if I needed it. While it is great to have this other degree I can fall back onto, I know that I really don’t want to. I want acting to work out for me. I want to be successful and happy within the career, but I know that this is much more difficult than a 9 to 5. Over the past few years being around other actors and artists, it has become clear to me that this is something almost all of us struggle with. We know it is safer to have a regular job, but we want this to work out so badly. I have definitely had thoughts about quitting and focusing on my other degree and interests, especially when I am not booking jobs or feeling like I am really moving forward in my career. I tend to blame it on the fact that almost everything is based on luck in this industry, and how you need to know people to make it. While there is some truth in that, I have slowly come to realize that I have to try to make my own luck. I need to put myself in the places and situations that allow me to be seen and make connections with people who could help me move up. By always having this in the back of my mind, I have pushed myself to take risks and go places that have gotten me opportunities I wouldn’t have gotten if I continued to tell myself it wasn’t achievable. I do still have thoughts about what it would be like to have a regular job—and I’m sure I always will—but by actually believing in myself and my craft, I am able to improve my skills and my access to new opportunities.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an actor and aspiring director and am currently in my last semester of college at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities where I am pursuing degrees in Theatre Arts and Communication Studies. I am planning to move to LA in the next year or so, and eventually be bi-coastal between LA and NY. I have been doing theatre from a young age and have just fallen in love with it. I began to pursue theatre and acting in general more seriously in college, both within the university and in local theatre. In the past two years, I have also gotten very involved in on-camera acting—I am signed with Moore Creative Talent and Agency Models and Talent for commercial work in the Twin Cities, and this past summer, I signed with DDO Artists Agency in Los Angeles for TV/Film/Theatre/VO. Signing with the agency in LA has been a big step forward in my career and I am so excited to see what comes from it. I never thought that I would be able to attain these opportunities, but with support from my family and friends and by pushing myself to take risks, I have found myself achieving career goals and learning more about myself and my abilities. I have also recently started getting involved with directing—I am currently assistant directing a local theatre production in Minneapolis with Lyric Arts and Exposed Brick Theatre called Log Kya Kahenge. Along with this, I am currently working on my senior capstone project which has consisted of me writing an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet from a feminist angle. I have finished writing the play and am now directing it with a group of my friends making up the cast and creative team. It has only been a few weeks since I began working on both of these projects, but it has been so exhilarating and inspiring to work with creatives who are just as passionate about this work as I am.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Growing up, I never saw people who looked like me on shows, films, or on the stage. The only representation I really had were the characters that were seemingly just the really nerdy or annoying Indian friend (Ex. Baljeet from Phineas and Ferb, Ravi from Jessie, etc.). Most of the time, there would be no South Asian representation at all. Because of this, I began to feel really self-conscious and hyper aware of my ethnicity and how different I looked from my white peers. Because the representation I had seen of people like me was mainly negative or comedic, that is what I thought I had to be and what others thought of me. When transitioning from middle school to high school, I began to try to change my appearance and the way I acted to try to be more like my white peers. This made me disconnect from my own identity and culture, which wasn’t great for my mental health. But the more I got into acting, I realized that changing myself was completely unnecessary. Acting has allowed me to put myself into various people’s/characters’ shoes and view the world from different perspectives. There have been many times where I have come out to greet people after performing in a show and a POC comes over to me and tells me how much it meant to them to see another POC on stage and/or playing a main character. Each one of those interactions has made a big impact on me and how I view my identity, allowing me to reconnect with my culture and who I am over time. While acting is something that I love to do in general, being able to be the South Asian representation for other people that I have always wanted to see is something that has really been driving my creative journey for the past few years. It has been especially exciting to see South Asian/Indian representation become more prevalent in TV/Film recently (Ex. Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran in Bridgerton) as it makes this career seem more achievable to me than it ever did before. I remember early on in my career having conversations with my parents about how hard it would be to break through this industry as an Indian, but more recently, I have had more hope. While it is still definitely difficult, it feels less impossible. I want to continue to be part of the representation for other South Asians to see on stage or on the screen.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being in Minneapolis for the past 4 years has given me a chance to be surrounded by a diversity of people, opinions, and events. This has encouraged me to implement my values into my work along with challenging my ideas as well. Being involved in theatre and film allows me to create meaningful art, which is the most rewarding aspect of being a creative to me. Making art with other collaborators that could impact even one person makes it all worth it to me. Knowing that my work has positively affected or inspired someone is what really makes me feel like I am doing something that I am meant to do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: aishu.naga

Image Credits

Personal Photo and 5th Additional Image: Photographed by Junia Morrow

Additional Images 1-3: Photographed by Dan Norman

Additional Images 4 and 6: Photographed by Stonestreet Studios

Additional Image 7: Photographed Sarah Jean for a Best Buy Shoot

Additional Image 8: Photographed by Anderson Hughs Productions