Abdeali Saherwala | Staff Writer
Featured image: Behzad Dabu on life as an Indian-American actor in Hollywood and the impact of the arts on culture and society. | Courtesy of BehzadDabu.com
One of the most prominent supporting roles in How to Get Away with Murder is Simon Drake, (Behzad Dabu), one of the law students taught by Annalise Keating (Viola Davis). Drake is intelligent and hardworking, yet his persistence in wanting to be in the main characters’ inner circle makes him arrogant.
However, Dabu himself differs much from his character’s personality. He comes off as a unique individual in Hollywood, telling stories from his childhood, past religious affiliation, work in social advocacy, and views on racial representation in the arts, all contributing to making him the likeable, thoughtful person he is today.
Dabu is the son of immigrant parents who moved to the U.S. from India, where he was conceived and born on U.S. soil. They brought over their religion, Zoroastrianism, and raised him under said beliefs. Their faith didn’t hold with their son’s belief system as he grew older, and he no longer actively follows it. However, this didn’t stop others, as well as many in the film industry, from criticizing him due to his difference in appearance and beliefs.
“I was born and raised Zoroastrian, an ancient monotheistic religion that is Persian; most Zoroastrians are from India,” says Dabu.
“But I do not practice anymore, so I am not active in the religion. So my status as a minority comes from being a person of color in Hollywood, where the default colour is white. And there is a lot of struggles that come with that,” he adds.
Dabu’s skin colour always posed a problem with getting roles in Hollywood—he was perceived as either not too brown to play the roles of Indian characters, or was considered way too brown to get the roles of a leading man, which in Hollywood, tends to go to white actors.
On top of this, there are still pressures of looking and acting a certain way as an Indian-American, as well as breaking down family pressures of pursuing a career in law or medicine, as most Asian parents often tell their children to pursue.
“My parents were very supportive and I understand the pressure that a lot of brown people, Asian-Americans, Indian-Americans, and Korean-Americans face. I have a friend who is a Filipino-American, and yes, sometimes parents are trying to force the kids into a more steady path, like becoming a lawyer or doctor,” Dabu says.
“My parents are extremely educated and really open-minded, and I think that they knew that there is no such thing as a safe path; that a career as an artist is as valuable as a career in a more traditional path, and so my parents were actually very supportive of me. I am very grateful and lucky for that.”
As much as pursuing a career outside of the norm—like becoming an actor—is frowned upon, Dabu expresses the importance of the job to society. He is fortunate enough to come from a family that has a history of working in the arts. His grandfather, Yazdi Karanjia, won the Times of India Achievement Award for his work in the theatre, and for creating Parsi theatre. His mother used to work with his grandfather as a child, and now works at a community theatre in Syracuse, New York, while his father works in theatre design and painting. All of this helped shape Dabu’s understanding of the film and arts industries, and their significance to society—even though the industry is highly competitive, becoming an artist of any sort is worth it.
“We can see the value of doctors. We can see the value of lawyers. We can see the value of engineers, because we see the buildings they make. We see the people doctors heal, and we see the cases that lawyers try. But with artists, we can’t see their value,” Dabu explains.
“When those doctors, lawyers, and engineers go home, they read books, listen to music, watch plays, go to movies, and watch T.V. shows—all the things they do is culture, and we create the culture. Artists create the culture. We are the cultural creators—without us, there is no culture. There are just roads, buildings, medicine, and law. Without culture, there is nothing else. So, the way we learn, understand, and understand how to navigate the world, is through art and culture. It’s incredibly important—in fact, maybe more important than other things.”
He also feels that his work can be a grassroots for change in the way minorities are hired and portrayed in the film and arts industry. He desires to aid people of colour, women, the LGBTQ+ population, and people with disabilities to have access to the type of artistic work their counterparts are receiving, through a nationwide organization called The Chicago Inclusion Project.
“I want to get to a point where it is just normal because it represents the world we live. To be honest, Hollywood, the media, the New York Theater, and the Chicago Theater are not normal, because it’s 90 per cent white, even though 90 per cent of [the U.S.] is not white. I am just trying to get the representation to catch up to what is happening in the country,” he says.
In terms of working in How To Get Away With Murder, Dabu greatly enjoys working with the cast and crew, one of his fondest memories on set being a particular episode shot with Viola Davis.
“I think the day that I will always remember was when we shot season three, episode five. I had a scene with Viola, and we were the only two people that were there all day. We would do a scene, and then go back to the waiting area; it would be just me and her, sitting next to each other and just talking. That’s a day I will never forget. She is such an inspiration, and I felt that I was a real actor that day,” adds Dabu.
As for his character, Simon Drake, the cast is currently unsure of what is going to happen to him. The show airs on Thursdays, when viewers can learn more about what will happen to him and the rest of the cast. Besides How To Get Away With Murder, Dabu is working on another show, The Shy on ShowTime, created by Lena Waithe, who also created Dear White People. The Shy has already aired two episodes, with the pilot available on YouTube and the second episode available on the ShowTime app.
“I am in The Shy, which is 10 episodes per season. In a few weeks, I will be in an episode of The Good Place, and you can also catch me as the character Ode on the animated series called The Lion Guard on Disney. Hopefully, [there will be] some more plays in the future that I can produce,” says Dabu.
Dabu is a visionary actor. He isn’t afraid of speaking his truth and becoming a voice for Indian-Americans in Hollywood. His beliefs on politics and social events have made him a respected actor in the industry, and hopefully, we will see more of him on screen in the future.
