Today we’d like to introduce you to Rishik Patel.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Rishik. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’d like to say I watched “so-and-so” in “this and that” and it just ignited me. Inspired me to no end. I knew I had to perform.
That ain’t it.
There is no doubt I loved performing as a child, loved getting reactions from others and above all desired to make people laugh. If falling out of my chair in my 3rd-grade class would elicit a chuckle, hey, I’d do that for you. But this never translated to theatre until late in middle school. To be honest, I was entirely unaware of how much I would enjoy it. To me, Drama Club meant I got to spend a few extra hours each week with cute girls. It was a win to any 12 years old boy. I debuted as The Tissue Elf in some awful faux rendition of “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” with notable lines such as, “Would you like a tissue?” and “Here, have a tissue.” Hardly Shakespeare, but I did find I enjoyed it. Enjoyed it so much that when I reached high school, I signed up for theatre.
Not only did I sign up, I lived for it. I was guided by two staples of theatre in Georgia, Ken and Patty Lindahl, and I spent so many hours after school in that world that I recall an administrative staff member pulling me aside and asking, “Why do you stay at school so long? Is it because school is better than home?” A valiant effort by a caring staff member, but in fact I had a very loving family and home. Through high school, I found I craved acting in theatre more than most priorities, even what had been a lifelong passion in soccer. It was then I was pulled aside with a few castmates by a guest director and essentially told, “If you can see yourself doing something else and loving it, do that. If not, do this.”
I couldn’t. I went on to a BFA at Valdosta State University and stumbled into a showcase where Brian Beegle, an Atlanta-based commercial casting director and now friend, told me to come to Atlanta and get in front of the camera. It took a while, but I eventually reached out to him, others, and found my way to my home away from home studio at Drama Inc. in Grant Park.
I fell in love with film acting: the subtlety, the rawness, the need to actively be present (because the camera won’t lie for you). It was, to me, one of the hardest things I could do in my industry. And I love a challenge. I was a bright kid. I never felt I couldn’t do other things. I never felt stymied, nor that I couldn’t do a job to its fully required potential. This was something I could never reach a plateau in. Something I could always be better at, always grow in. And I have not turned back.
Has it been a smooth road?
Smooth is not the word. I’d liken it to a gravel road circling a mountain up in north Georgia. It’s been bumpy as all get-out with forward momentum through dips, rises and lateral movement circling around this giant monstrosity of a mountain. That being said, with the certainty that I was always getting closer to what I wanted to achieve.
This is, largely, a merit-based industry. That is key. This is not to say, like all industries, it is not riddled with unfair and unfavorable situations. There is always an example to point to for fallacies in job placements. But if you work hard, do the right things, and surround yourself with the right people, you will succeed in this industry. The difficulty in this, rather, is coupling your success with your expectations of what success is, and then deciding either what you need to do to merge the two, or if it isn’t enough for you.
Mental battles are the worst. I have seen so many actors fall victim to head games and I am not unique in this area. The truth is, we don’t control much. And we can let those uncontrollable beat us down to affect what we do control, and then seep over into the rest of our lives.
Actors don’t work often, yet they must work all the time. I think breaks are great and positive influences on any career. But if an actor is not constantly pressing, they might miss the boat. And there aren’t many boats. Most actors spend more than a full work week preparing for a job that they may not get this year. But that is the job. And the trick is to find how to enjoy that. Everyone likes to be on a film set. It’s all the other stuff that can bring morale down when you are not prepared to be happy just doing those things. You need to like auditioning. You need to like going to class. You need to like stapling your resume to your friggin’ headshot, memorizing lines, doing character work, doing script analysis, meeting people, creating independent projects, studying everything (there is nothing you cannot learn more about that will not help you), etc. etc.
Once you get past the head games (each week, they circle back around) there’s more.
One of the largest being time. I think all actors are constantly juggling and re-balancing how to do what they want. There is so much skill involved in just creating the time do the work required to be able to work as an actor. We don’t make much money, but we must always be working. What if you have other passions or other responsibilities? What if you have bills? What if you have a family? What if you like to eat? Sleep? Balancing all of this is the hardest part of my job, I want to do so much, and need to do so much else, and I cannot sacrifice my art. I revisit the best way for right now every day.
There have been a number of other challenges, much more personal than I would prefer to dig. But I would be happy to discuss more with anyone in person. The truth is, as I’m typing about struggles, I’m hindering myself from doing my job. I have to focus on what I can control and be the best at that. Yes, there are struggles. Universal struggles. Personal struggles. Acceptance, timing, availability, race, finance, mental, physical – I could write for hours.
But it’s worth it.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am my business. This is great to me because what invest in myself is largely what I will get out of myself.
I don’t just act, but it is my forte. I write (I’m currently producing a short-film this month). I take headshots and handle other small photography needs for locals. I’m Lyft driving so much these days you’ve probably already met me on your way to somewhere. I do whatever I need to do to fuel my passion, but try to make sure it’s something I can also be passionate about (or at least have fun doing). I recall a professor telling me some probably 30+ jobs he had carried in his career. He had been to war, worked various odd-jobs, performed, taught, etc. I don’t plan on going to war, and I doubt I’ll quite reach that many jobs and career paths, but it’s no question that I am constantly going to be varied in experiences, which only benefits me and my employers.
I don’t love to talk about how great I am, so I asked around. I would say, on the whole, people are most impressed with my work ethic (I enjoy working hard, and I don’t like to be out-worked in a competitive sense), my kindness and empathy, and my willingness to help. I like that because I think those qualities are overlooked and can oftentimes be ill-found. People know me as someone genuine that they can rely on. I’ll take that any day.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We have seen record-needs for content during my lifetime, and I see no slowing down. I’ll tell you that it doesn’t hurt to be in Atlanta, where the film industry has flourished consistently for years now. Atlanta has so much room to grow, a hungry workforce, and the facilities to keep a strong film industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: imdb.me/rishikpatel
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rishik.patel.2
Image Credit:
FOX Images, Kurt Yue, Caitlin Tawara, Chase Anderson
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