We recently connected with Ria Patel and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ria, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

This biggest risk I have taken is being an actor. You’ve heard all the horror stories of the unpredictability, low paid jobs, sitting around and waiting to book, all the rejections and maybe working a side job you hate.

A lot of my acting teachers ask, why? Why do you want to do this? You could do anything else in the world, anything else that could probably give you more stability but why acting?

I am an actor because I love human connection. I love telling stories. Humans thrive on connection, in fact we yearn to connect. Moments when no one has showed up for me, I have found comfort in stories. You turn on your favourite show and it makes you feel safe again, less lonely.

I firmly believe stories serve three purposes: to connect, comfort and/or challenge. Stories have the power to challenge you, to make you think, instigate change in the world and within yourself.

I took the risk of being an actor and I don’t regret it. I am very lucky for the work that has come my way and the stories I have been able to tell. And once you risk being an actor, it’s time to take a risk in your craft.

This year I finished filming a feature film, “How To Talk Australians” and it was a challenge. I play an Indian girl who comes to Australia on a study tour for a better life. However, the trip does not go as planned – it’s a shit show! The film has dry humour and I have to find a way to keep the comedy truthful and grounded.

My character was a challenging role to play. Unfortunately there are not many strong South Asian female characters on screen yet and it was important to portray her strength. Her has a beautiful journey of being the sweet (subservient) girl to an enraging rebel. This role was a risk to me because the movie is hilarious, crazy things are happening, but strip that away we need something to connect to. My character is the moral compass of the film, I really want the audience to care about her, she presents the immigrant dream or anyone who has a dream and has worked so hard for it. I’m very proud of the risk I have taken to play this role and I truly hope the audience feels that too.

Every day is a risk being an actor but I know this is my soul calling.

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

I am an actor, writer and dancer, I work in both the Australian and American film industry. I aways say, dancing is my first love, writing is my baby (writers can be very precious about their work – just like babies) and acting is my true love.

I began my artistic journey as a dancer. When I was a kid, I didn’t think much of acting, I didn’t really have a defining moment of when I wanted to be an actor, I think it was just small pockets of love growing for it. I always enjoyed stories on TV, the big screen and on stage and I started taking drama classes and did it for fun. After high school, I flukily auditioned for film school in America and got in! I was not expecting that and neither did I ever have a dream of going to the Big Apple.

I accepted my offer and off I went, that’s when I truly fell in love with acting. I realised I must keep doing this and sharing stories with the world.

Currently finished working as a lead on a feature with the wonderful director Tony Rogers (Wilfred). I’ve worked with many brands such as Toyota, Kmart, HP but working with Libra (sanitary products) was very special. Not only was I honoured to represent South Asian women but period pain is such a taboo topic which I’m so inspired to shed light upon.

I truly believe storytelling has the power to connect, comfort and also challenge the audience to evoke change in the world and within themselves. Stories have always been there for me and I want to be there for me audience as a storyteller.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I wish I had understood earlier in my career that I don’t have to hold onto pain for my art. I don’t have to lead a miserable life to be a “talented” actor.

When I was acting in my earlier days and I had a dramatic scene, I would draw on a sad and often traumatic memory of mine to get there emotionally. It was exhausting, I felt like I had to hold on to these past memories to make me a better actor. I had a teacher who taught me crying does NOT make you a better actor, it’s actually more interesting and human to watch a person hold back those tears. That helped me feel less stressful about “crying”, weirdly enough I’m more emotionally available because I am not pushing for those tears.

I did a casting director workshop once and my character was in a car accident and became a paraplegic, I was emotionally distraught, that CD said to me, “why don’t you try acting?” I laughed so hard. Instead of digging through past memories I have worked to heal from, I started using my imagination. It’s beautiful that actors want to tell the truth, but remember the mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. Always take care of yourself, keeping your mental health in mind.

Over the years I’m very grateful for my teachers who have reminded me, artists get to be happy and joyful! Art is therapeutic and cathartic but it’s also important to seek professional help when needed, you deserve to be happy. You don’t have to go to dark places all the time to deliver a performance and if you choose to, please have a strong support system and a ritual to reconnect with yourself.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

“Acting is the only love I can have in my life, I cannot do anything else”, that is a lesson I had to unlearn. A lot of actors take pride in being immensely passionate about their work, which is important but it’s ok (and you should) love other things, dare I say, even do other jobs…

My combat teacher would always say “if acting is your only talent, you have no talent”, I loved that. How can you show the human condition when you haven’t given a chance to experience life. It’s great to love other things, you gain experience from them, you learn from them and then you draw that back into acting.

Artists often feel disheartened when they have to do other side jobs to make acting work, that ok. You are experiencing life, if you’re working an office job, great! Next time you have an audition for a character who works in corporate, you know what it’s like to be in that world. A gentle reminder these other side jobs support your love for acting, it’s ok to hate them once in a while but don’t forget what they’re helping you do. This does not make you any less of an artist.

Also this job has many ups and downs, (mostly downs) and it’s necessary to take a break from it. Try something else, paint, go travel, eat cake.

I put so much pressure into acting that I lost the feeling of joy and it was impacting my craft. You can’t show the human experience without being a human first. So go be a human.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theriapatel.com
• Instagram: @theriapatel
• Facebook: ria patel

Image Credits

Photographers to credit:

Kym Houston (red scarf pic)
Maddi Bozzocco (black and pink pants pic)
Devin Wickramaratne (main headshot and infront of the rocks)