Hi. My name is Jayshree Nambiar Nair & I have recently completed by acting course from Actor Prepares. From my childhood days, I have always been inclined towards the performing arts, more so towards dance. To say that I always dreamt of being an “actor” would be a blatant lie, even though there have been times in my growing up years, when I watched actors enact scenes & songs in films, I have felt that just maybe I could do this too.
Coming from a simple South Indian Malayali family based in Mumbai, back then in the 80’s & 90’s, though not conservatively but raised with some reservations, “not in my backyard” thinking, some of our dreams came knocking with “kabhi sapne mein bhi mat sochna yeh sab”. Add to it, the apprehensions related to the film & entertainment industry. If we desired to spread our wings to fly high, being a cabin crew is the farthest we could think of then or else focus on academics or securing a stable Government job or a job in the banking or public sector (the lure of UPSC exams, Bank exams, always trended in our homes, before the IT industry boomed).
From opting for the Commerce stream on my father’s insistence, instead of my choice of Arts, thereon it’s been a journey of “Jaana tha Japan pahunch gaye Chin samajh gaye na”. From brief stints in the travel, banking & shipping industry & offering a helping hand in my husband’s training projects to calling it quits almost 10 years back to fulfil my interest in learning Indian classical dance forms, I realised I never looked at building a career though I worked sincerely, day & night, at things that I now see as probably not something I was really meant for.
When the pandemic hit, during the lockdown, I got to making some dance & acting videos, mostly within the confines of my home. Somewhere along the way I started realising that just maybe this is what I was always meant to do and that there was so much more to learn about the craft of acting. Just when I was contemplating to join some online acting workshops, one evening, on my way back from a friend’s sangeet, my cousin suggested I should consider joining “Mr Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares”. I opted for the 3-month full time diploma course in acting. As a complete novice to the field took my first step with the privilege of being a student of India’s most prestigious acting institute run by a professionally active actor and one that holds many popular & notable actors as it’s Alumni.
Through the intensive and vigorous training over those 3 months, from a great curriculum and very passionate & dedicated faculties, I learnt that acting like any other art form is a never-ending learning process and that there is no substitute to hard work. Which is just why it’s so important for an artist to stay focused and committed to one’s goals, no matter the rejections & trials one has to face along the way. Also learning the importance of self-belief, punctuality and staying true to yourself to grow as an actor.
It’s been a beautiful, challenging journey of exploring various emotions & my vulnerability as an artist & as a person, transforming me along the way. Towards the finale performance, the whole experience got me to be more confident and armed with a better understanding to take the stage. To join Actor Prepares has by far been the best decision I made for myself.
Reaffirming my faith in this popular quote by writer & poet George Eliot, “It is never too late to be who you might have been”