We recently connected with Hari Bhaskar and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Hari, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
What I feel my parents did right was showcase both sides of the world to me, à la ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, with my mom being the poor dad and my dad being the rich one. My mom, coming from a middle class background, made me realise how it’s important to be grounded, not get too ahead of myself, and the importance of spending money only when absolutely necessary, while my dad, coming from a richer background, taught me how it’s important to take risks, even if they don’t always pay off, and to have a mindset of abundance rather than one of scarcity.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m an actor based in New York City, I’m originally from the southern coastal state of Kerala in India. I moved to NYC in January of 2021, and graduated from the Evening Conservatory program at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in June of 2022. I’ve primarily done theatre, though I would love to do film and TV as well. I’m currently on my O1 visa.
I wanted to be an actor ever since I was 17. I was born in India, but then moved to Dubai when I was two months old. I was there till I was 12. I was made to be an academic student. But after moving to India, where my school had equal emphasis on both academics as well as extra curricular activities, I started doing theatre because I couldn’t do swimming, athletics or things like drawing and painting. The other reason why I did theatre was also because it was in English, and I was one of the best English speakers in class. The first play I did in school was our annual Christmas play.
It made me want to do theatre for the rest of my life. Then there was a rough week I had at school. I came back home to see a game of cricket being played. The ‘Babe Ruth’ of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, was playing, and he was approaching a historic landmark. Witnessing that landmark in television made me want to become a cricketer, and I was behind that for three years, but once my public exams began, and with the lack of support from both home as well as my school, I dropped out from the sport.
We then did a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in school, where we had recording sessions of the songs at a studio, and we had two 14 hour days for those sessions. The camaraderie that I shared with my cast made me realise that I want to do this for the rest of my life.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
There are a few books which has significantly impacted my philosophy, and it all started with Mark Manson’s ‘Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck’. What I love about the book is how it teaches the ‘art’ in the title through anecdotes. That led me to other books like ‘Denial of Death’, which taught me to embrace death and not be afraid of it, ‘The Power of Now’, which taught me the value of being in the present, and ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’, to name a few, which taught me the value of having a mindset of abundance.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I think the biggest lesson I had to unlearn was to be unguarded and vulnerable when I’m telling a story. It was during a voice and speech class that my teacher told me not to hold back and be stuck in my head because I’m afraid of doing the wrong thing, but rather go all-in and be ok with creating that mistake, because sometimes, something else which you did not plan out could emerge, and that made me realise that sometimes, having those unplanned moments on stage could lead to some of the most beautiful moments which one could have never thought of.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/bhaskarettan
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/hari.bhaskar.520
- Other: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/haribhaskarresume