We were lucky to catch up with Gehan A Cooray recently and have shared our conversation below.

Gehan , appreciate you joining us today. We’ve love to hear an interesting investment story – what was one of the best or worst investments you’ve made? (Note, these responses are only intended as entertainment and shouldn’t be construed as investment advice)

I think the best investment I ever made was in my tertiary education at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude in Theater and Psychology, with Renaissance Scholar and Discovery Scholar Honors.

My late grandfather Herbert Cooray believed that education was the greatest asset, and I think it’s important that one studies at the best possible institution(s) where one can be exposed to the best professors and greatest minds. USC of course has the best film school in the world, as well as one of the top 5 theater programs in America, in addition to being one of the most renowned research universities where everything from Cinema to Psychology is cutting edge. No matter how naturally gifted you may be at what you do, having a rock-solid ACADEMIC foundation is crucial to get you through both your career and your life in general, because you need to be TRAINED TO THINK in as comprehensive and multifaceted a way as you can in order to build an enduring legacy – especially in the modern world of endless distractions and diversions, where it’s all too easy for artists/creatives in particular to simply go from one thing to another without context, meaning and depth.

I had to decide between a conservatory in New York or USC, and although it was a tough call to make at the time, especially since I was much more drawn to New York than Los Angeles as a teenager, I am thrilled that I picked USC because the academic rigor that went hand in hand with the practical perfection demanded by the professors there ensured that I could face any situation that subsequently came my way with both mental and physical aplomb. Sometimes an artist may be physically and/or vocally equipped to deliver incredible results as an actor, singer or other creative, but having the mental and intellectual wherewithal to go toe to toe with anyone – even if they are older than you, or in a senior position – is another matter entirely. I had amassed so much confidence in myself by the time I graduated from USC that I could never feel intimidated by anyone ever again – whether it was onstage, onscreen, or in any real world scenario!

Contrary to what mere folk wisdom might tell you, you can never be too clever, and having one’s mind sharpened like a razor or a knife in a high-caliber institution of learning is the only way to cut right through the endless changes and vicissitudes of the 21st century.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was acting and singing from the time I was in pre-school, being cast as the title characters in ‘The Selfish Giant’ and ‘the musical ‘Annie’ at the tender age of 4 (and learning to play both male and female characters in my all-boys’ Catholic school in Sri Lanka). As I grew older, I played lead roles in operettas like Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘The Mikado’ and Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’, while also acting professionally in my mid-late teenage years in many original stage plays written by one of Sri Lanka’s leading dramatists who happened to be transgender. It was amazing to be paid for your work while still in school!

I also learned as a child that traditional gender distinctions were quite arbitrary, and I never felt compelled to adhere to stereotypical models of masculinity. I was also one of the lead sopranos in my school choir up to the age of 16, singing everything from Latin sacred music to Handel and Wagner, and by the time my voice transitioned into that of a Baritone, I became the only Male Finalist in the national Symphony Orchestra’s biennial Concerto Competition (at the age of 18) singing Italian and French Operatic Arias, German Lieder and Broadway musical numbers. Although I decided to major in Theater and Psychology at USC, rather than music, I continued to take private voice lessons whenever possible, and I think a singer needs to get periodic coaching throughout his/her life in order to make sure that the vocal instrument is functioning optimally!

Upon graduating from USC, I went on to direct fully-staged opera productions of Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ and Rossini’s ‘The Barber of Seville’ while portraying the roles of Count Almaviva and Figaro respectively. While living in Los Angeles, which has been my home for nearly one and a half decades, I was also cast in the lead roles of Bernard Nightingale in Tom Stoppard’s brilliant and very verbose play ‘Arcadia’, and Prof. Fritz Bhaer in the Broadway Musical version of ‘Little Women’. A chance meeting with Hollywood director Jon Favreau at the Arclight Cinema inspired me to make a few short films, which won accolades at several film festivals in L.A and Palm Springs.

This in turn compelled me to produce my first feature length film – which is what I’m most proud of – a gender-swapped adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play ‘The Millionairess’, titled THE BILLIONAIRE, in which I played the title role, and won the Burbank International Film Festival’s Award for Best Comedy Feature in 2020. I had completed Post Production for my film at Warner Bros. Studios, which was itself a thrilling experience, as many of the Classic Hollywood films which inspired both the visual and performance aesthetic of my film had been made at Warners (most notably “My Fair Lady”). My film became officially eligible for both Oscar and Golden Globe Nominations in 2021, and one of the Golden Globe Jurors, Patricia Danaher hailing from Bernard Shaw’s native country Ireland, was one of the biggest admirers of my work. We struck up a friendship after realizing that we were actually Hollywood neighbors!

I also became officially eligible for Grammy nominations in 2021, having released a vocal album titled CLASSICAL & COOL, although my proudest musical moment remains my Solo Concert at CARNEGIE HALL in 2019, where the audience was comprised of numerous ladies and gentlemen from the United Nations, and the Chief Guest was none other than the Chef de Cabinet to the United Nations Secretary General – Maria Luiza Viotti. She is such an incredible person that taking pictures next to her after the concert made me feel like I was next to royalty. I also received one of the finest compliments imaginable from Ms. Daniela Bas who is one of the UN’s most dedicated social development and human rights advocates – hailing from Italy, this marvelous lady said that if she were to only close her eyes and listen to me singing my Italian Operatic Arias, she could swear I were a bona fide Italian native myself because my diction was so accurate.

My favourite operatic role is the toreador Escamillo in Bizet’s French Opera CARMEN, which I had the honor of playing at the Miami Classical Music Festival in 2022, replete with the most gorgeous period costumes (a rarity in today’s too-often modernized operatic stagings). My favourite Musical Theater role is Gaston from Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – and I was surprised when I played the role to much acclaim because as a child I would never have imagined being able to pull off such an unapologetically macho character. I did decide however, as both Gaston and Escamillo, not to revert to any stereotypes associated with manly bravado, but rather to bring the same aristocratic and noble bearing I had embodied as Mozart’s Count Almaviva, thereby making Bizet’s bull-fighter and Disney’s most chauvinistic male villain more refined characters – and I daresay the audiences found this refreshing, after the more brazen and boorish depictions that they are used to seeing.

In fact, many directors and casting directors from different parts of the United States have agreed that what sets me apart from others is a heightened degree of finesse, dignity and elegance which I bring to my work – whether it’s acting, singing or voiceover. I feel like too often, male performers are of the notion that refinement and elegance are feminine attributes that are antithetical to manly appeal, but this is entirely false and patently ludicrous. Terry Berland said I have an innate “gift for Beauty” as an artist, and I own this wholeheartedly because I think Beauty and Grace are universal qualities which should never be thought of as exclusively female territory. As Bernard Shaw said, the whole point of Art is to make people “think more nobly and feel more deeply”, and that is precisely what I set out to do each and every time I perform – I do not believe in merely mirroring everyday coarse reality back to my viewers and listeners, because Theater, Music and Cinema should be elevated and transcendent experiences.

Thus, my performance style always tends to be more Classical – what Stanislavsky referred to as ‘The Art of Representation’ (versus realism) – and whether I act or sing, one might say there is a distinct Old World sensibility to my vocal inflections and intonations, as well as my body language and gestures. I hasten to add that none of these constitute any kind of affectations on my part, but it’s what feels most right and natural to me, and it would require a huge effort on my part to be otherwise. If I weren’t a Christian, I might say that I spent another life in Victorian England or Belle-Epoque Europe. I do think my fans enjoy being transported to a much more heightened realm when I perform, and I’ve also noticed that engendering a strong sense of nostalgia is a big part of my personal artistic brand.

Again, this isn’t by design, but rather it’s as if I arrived here from a different era where a Gentleman WAS expected to be graceful and refined, and in fact I would go so far as to say that gender distinctions became more sharply defined than ever in modern times – whereas once upon a time, ladies and gentlemen were both supposed to embody elegance and finesse in equal measure! If you go back and watch some of the older Hollywood films featuring John Barrymore, Rudolph Valentino, Nelson Eddy, Mario Lanza and Cary Grant, you will get a sense of what I’m talking about, and it is precisely that legacy that I feel I fit into.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The fact that people don’t expect me to abide by petty social conventions, but rather understand and accept – sooner or later – that a true artist/creative is an INDIVIDUAL through and through, who will march to the beat of a drum that the masses do not hear.

I do not have to conform to any norms, which I find extremely liberating because norms themselves tend to change from one period of time to another – sometimes within a matter of years – and while the rest of society strives to follow whichever behavioral trends and fashion templates become “normalized” at any given point, an artist/creative like me is thankfully given a great deal of freedom to follow his or her own sensibilities and preferences, thereby enabling me to create and occupy my own world.

I might take this one step further and say that whenever the “base reality” that is out there fails to satisfy an artist/creative such as myself, few people would be shocked or alarmed if I were to blend Fantasy with Reality – and use the powers of Imagination and a more Dreamlike state to make everyday life a more beauteous and wondrous thing than mainstream society tends to allow.
Almost everyone is naturally equipped to do this when they are very young, but I feel like only Artists/Creatives tend to remember how to do it well into adulthood and even old age.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One of my biggest goals/missions is to overcome and shatter all the racial/ethnic prejudices and biases that have been holding back so many South Asian artists/creatives in countries like the United States. This is mainly driven by xenophobia coupled with colorism. There are countless casting directors who seem determined to keep dark-skinned South Asians offscreen and off-stage, unless the roles are explicitly – and most often stereotypically and very offensively – written for “Indians” or “Pakistanis” etc. Many of these casting people are totally flabbergasted when I do not conform to their racist, xenophobic notions, and seem shocked that an actor/singer from Sri Lanka (a country which most of them may not have even heard of) can speak the King’s English perfectly – I’ve actually had several industry people, including a well-known screen director, ask me if I could “speak less properly” and not pronounce my consonants as distinctly as I do etc.

They are so afraid of a South Asian actor or singer coming across as what they consider to be POSH, almost as if they think only White performers should be posh onscreen and onstage – in a desperate bid to preserve an archaic white supremacist status-quo – and while they have finally started allowing actors of African descent to play those kinds of characters, they still seem determined to relegate South Asian performers to “third world roles” on too many occasions. This is one reason I made my feature film THE BILLIONAIRE, because that is the kind of role that not even Dev Patel has been “allowed” to play hitherto.

I know I will emerge victorious in the end, because the beauty and nobility of my artistic calling are vastly more powerful than the hateful discrimination and biases that the more primitive and tribal gatekeepers of the entertainment industry are marred by, and I also know that I am in it for the LONG HAUL. I am playing the LONG GAME – not looking for 15 minutes of fame – and I will vindicate not only myself, but an entire ethnic group that has been deliberately underrepresented on American screens and stages for far too long. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would love to see me pack up and return to Sri Lanka, but that will never happen. I have an artistic mission to accomplish in America, and I will be laid to rest in the U.S having achieved “astonishing” feats, to quote one of my favourite songs from the Broadway musical version of ‘Little Women’. “Christopher Columbus, I’ll be astonishing!” declares the protagonist, despite all attempts to suppress her on account of her gender, and I declare the exact same words with even more vehemence, despite all the osbtacles and challenges I’ve had to face as a dark-skinned South Asian artist/creative.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3582034/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gehanacooray/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gehan.cooray/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCf16-wLiRPH8QVeaLptA8A
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/album/6yiP0RVdbVHDYpSNM4lBAl https://watch.revry.tv/details/35734

Image Credits
MMF 2022