Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to RAJIV KHILNANI. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

RAJIV, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I would say in 2013. While the first sentence of this paragraph sounds very simple, the truth is the process of coming to that realization in 2013 was fairly windy. I have been painting, exhibiting and selling my art for about 30 years now. Frist in my home country and then in the US since 2000, the year I immigrated to America. Until 2013 art was always like a serious hobby/second profession for me as I also had a full-time job working at a university.

Around 2004 I discovered my love for modeling/acting. The university I worked for let staff take on-campus continuing studies classes. I signed-up for my first acting class there and never looked back. From 2004 to 2013 I took numerous theater acting and on-camera acting workshops and was part of over 100 short and feature length movies, print ads, and web and TV commercials, mostly in the SF Bay Area. While doing commercials was fun, I wanted to go beyond the commercials world, so I enrolled in a more formal ongoing acting program in San Francisco. I trained there for over two years and after reaching the advance level in the program, decided to move to Los Angeles in 2016. It was a good move as apart from the entertainment market, the art market in SoCal is much bigger than NorCal.

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

As I had mentioned in the previous question, I have been engaging in painting and acting for a very long time. I had been achieving a certain degree of success in both disciplines but never to the level where I thought of making any one of them my full-time career.

However, around 2013, when my regular job was not as satisfying as it used to be, I had a self-realization moment about wanting to pursue a full-time creative career. I knew LA was the place to be for an acting career but had no idea that even the art market in LA was way bigger than SF Bay Area. I didn’t want to move to LA without proper acting training so from 2013 to 2016 I went through a rigorous acting program in San Francisco after which I moved to LA in April of 2016.

In the acting world I fall under the Diversity actor category, middle aged South Asian man, so you could say I meet the needs for those looking to cast projects with minority representation. As for the art world, I satisfy the need of filling your empty walls with beautiful unique product and for making your space look stunning.

Apart from the diversity aspect, what sets me apart from many others in the acting world, I think, would be my persistence and professionalism. I might not win the race but do know that being slow and steady definitely leads to a positive outcome.

As for my art and my digital art works, my abstract paintings are unique as they are a blend of Eastern and Western influences, which gives the viewers a lot more to study when looking at my works. As for the Digital Art, they are part of “My Art Meets My Photography” series, where I blend photos of my original art with everyday photos I take of my surroundings. Not many artists do what I doing as not everyone can paint and take unique photos at the same time.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Bluntly speaking, the answer to this question is very short, be “Generous with your money”. Everyone needs money to survive and thrive. Artists can work stress free when they know they have money to pay their bills. Most people assume art is always expensive to buy, but the truth is lot of artists have very reasonable price points and are willing to work with potential clients to come up with a discounted sale price. I would encourage people to go and attend creative events as much as possible (art shows, theater performances etc.) as any financial support goes a long way.

At the government/business level we need more creative spaces and events (art galleries and artist studios, theaters, art festivals etc.) to expose our growing population to creativity. More exposure means better understanding of the creative community, how to support them and their struggles.

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

For me the most rewarding aspect of a creative life is exposure to and interaction with people from all walks of life, some of whom become friends for life. Every time I participate in an art show/festival or am on set for an acting gig, I get to meet people a diverse group of people. In talking to them I get to hear a bit of their life journey and from that conversation gain some wisdom for my future course of action.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rajivkhilnaniart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rajivkhilnani
• Other: Acting: www.rajivkhilnani.com

Image Credits
Headshot: David Carlson Photography